A landslide in South Surrey, B.C., has shut down Amtrak train service between Vancouver and Seattle.

Amtrak said BNSF, which owns the railway, has suspended passenger railway traffic on the tracks until Friday, March 31. Amtrak said it is providing buses to service the route while it remains closed.

BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas said freight trains, of which there are about 12 per day carrying goods, ranging from lumber and agricultural products to chemicals, resumed at 1 p.m. PT Wednesday.

He said there had been one larger slide, alongside two smaller ones.

"These are topical slides that come down when you get day after day after day of saturation," he said.

"It goes with the territory, and we know that. We're prepared."

The corridor is marked by 30-metre bluffs leading down to the oceanside railway.

South Surrey resident Erik Seiz said he was walking along the water between Crescent Beach and Ocean Parks at around 9 a.m. PT when he noticed the landslides.

"Looking up you could see chunks of the hillside had broken free and debris — mud and trees and whatnot — had covered the track in a few locations," said Seiz.

Read more...