All coastal rail service in San Diego County will be suspended Saturday and Sunday during the fourth of seven weekend “absolute work windows” scheduled this year for track maintenance and construction projects. The entire 351-mile LOSSAN corridor, from downtown San Diego to San Luis Obispo, will be closed, so Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner trains will not run those two days. Metrolink trains will be suspended on routes between Oceanside, Los Angeles and Ventura. In San Diego County, a large part of the weekend’s work will be the relocation of train signals and the construction of an embankment and a retaining wall as part of the San Diego Association of Governments’ ongoing Batiquitos Lagoon double-track project in Carlsbad. The second set of tracks will allow north- and south-bound trains to pass each other. The Batiquitos project is part of plans to double-track the entire coastal route, about 75% of which has been completed so far. Work at Batiquitos also includes building a concrete-and-steel, double-track railroad bridge to replace a wooden trestle from the 1940s. Environmental mitigation work for the project includes the restoration of nesting sites for the California least tern, a native bird in danger of extinction. Sand taken from the lagoon during the construction will be used to widen nearby Ponto Beach. The total estimated cost of the project is $166 million, according to SANDAG. Work also will take place on SANDAG’s Del Mar bluffs stabilization project, which has been underway since the spring of 2024. The primary activities there over the weekend will take place between Sixth Street and Coast Boulevard. Routine maintenance work will be done in other areas along the corridor over the weekend. Test trains, construction vehicles and other equipment will operate, so anyone near the tracks should remain cautious. No substitute or connecting bus service is provided during the suspensions, so riders should plan for alternate transportation. Passengers who regularly use North County Transit District’s Coaster train may want to consider the district’s Breeze bus Route 101 in North County or the Metropolitan Transit System in San Diego. Work windows usually are not scheduled during the summer, when nesting season environmental controls are in place and seasonal tourist travel peaks. The remaining work windows scheduled for San Diego County in 2026 are March 21 and 22, Oct. 17 and 18, and Nov. 7 and 8. ...read more read less