Rail riders along San Diego County’s coast are bracing for another planned suspension of North County Transit District’s COASTER and related services in late February 2026, as crews prepare for a concentrated maintenance push on one of California’s most fragile and strategically important rail corridors. With key work windows centered on the weekend of February 21 to 22, the shutdown will temporarily halt passenger trains between downtown San Diego and points north while engineers tackle track, signal, and bluff stabilization projects that officials say cannot safely be done while trains are running.

What Is Shutting Down in February and When

The North County Transit District has been using selected weekends for what it calls absolute work windows, periods when all train movements on targeted sections of track are halted so maintenance and construction teams can get uninterrupted access. February 2026 is one of those pivotal windows, tied to a broader schedule of closures across the San Diego region’s rail network.

On the coastal corridor, riders can expect a weekend without COASTER service between Oceanside Transit Center and San Diego’s Santa Fe Depot during a February work window aligned with ongoing Del Mar bluffs stabilization and double-tracking projects near Carlsbad and Encinitas. Previous notices have followed a consistent pattern: service is suspended from early Saturday morning through late Sunday night, with regular schedules resuming on Monday morning. That same pattern is anticipated again in February, even as precise train-by-train timetables are fine-tuned closer to the work date.

The shutdown coincides with an overlapping program on the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System’s Rail Ready initiative, which will close sections of the Orange Line trolley between the early hours of Saturday, February 21 and the pre-dawn hours of Monday, February 23, 2026. While the trolley work does not use the same tracks as the COASTER, it adds complexity for travelers who might typically transfer between heavy rail and light rail in the urban core.

Exact service bulletins, including the final list of affected trains and any late-night freight restrictions, will come from NCTD and its partners as the work window nears. For now, agency planners are advising February weekend riders to assume that most or all coastal rail trips will be replaced or rerouted on that key weekend and to build flexibility into their plans.

Why NCTD Is Suspending Coastal Rail Service

The February 2026 shutdown is only the latest example of a pattern that has become familiar to riders: temporary pain in the form of halted trains in exchange for longer-term safety and reliability on the Los Angeles–San Diego–San Luis Obispo rail corridor, better known as LOSSAN. This corridor carries NCTD’s COASTER commuter trains, Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner, BNSF freight, and connections to Metrolink’s services to Orange County and Los Angeles.

One of the central drivers of these closures is the ongoing effort by the San Diego Association of Governments and NCTD to stabilize the Del Mar coastal bluffs, where the tracks sit precariously close to an eroding cliff line. SANDAG’s multiphase stabilization program has crews drilling support columns, extending seawalls, reshaping drainage, and reinforcing slopes. Officials stress that workers often need full 24-hour access during a weekend to safely bring in heavy equipment, excavate, pour concrete, and perform quality control testing without the risk of a passing train.

Beyond Del Mar, NCTD and its partners are advancing double-tracking projects in locations such as the Batiquitos Lagoon area in Carlsbad, which are designed to relieve bottlenecks and allow more frequent and more reliable service. Track maintenance in areas like Solana Beach, the Miramar cut, and downtown San Diego has also regularly been bundled into these weekend windows, allowing crews to grind rail, replace ties, adjust ballast, and modernize signaling systems in one coordinated push.

Officials emphasize that running trains through construction zones is not an option when the work involves direct intervention on the track structure or adjacent structures that support it. Temporary closures, they argue, are the safest way to protect workers and passengers while the region confronts the combined pressures of aging infrastructure, sea level rise, and increasing ridership demand.

For passengers, the February 2026 rail shutdown will be felt most sharply by those who rely on the COASTER for weekday-style travel patterns on weekends: riders heading to events in downtown San Diego, commuters with Saturday shifts, or travelers making connections to Amtrak services and flights at San Diego International Airport.

Historically, NCTD’s weekend suspensions have halted COASTER trains entirely between Oceanside and downtown San Diego, with no replacement trains operating during the window. Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trips that typically traverse San Diego County have either been truncated at Oceanside or fully canceled for the affected days, while Metrolink’s Orange County Line trains have not run south of Oceanside during past closures. That combination effectively cuts off San Diego County’s rail link to Orange County and Los Angeles for the duration of the maintenance period.

Riders planning long-distance journeys in February that would normally rely on seamless rail connections should be prepared to use a combination of local buses, rideshare, or private vehicles to bridge the gap between San Diego and the nearest active railhead. Travelers connecting from the north may see amended Amtrak and Metrolink schedules, with some trains starting or ending in Orange County rather than San Diego when NCTD’s tracks are closed.

Passengers should also anticipate some residual disruption beyond the precise closure window. After major work, agencies sometimes build in limited testing periods for signals and tracks before fully restoring normal service. While these are typically short and scheduled for lower-demand times, they can result in altered departure times or platform assignments on the Monday following the weekend shutdown.

Bus Bridges, Alternate Transit, and Workarounds for Travelers

To keep people moving during the February shutdown, local transit providers are laying out a menu of alternatives, though none offer the simplicity of a direct coastal rail ride. NCTD traditionally encourages riders to use its BREEZE Route 101, a coastal bus that runs between Oceanside and UTC via key communities along the route, as one of the primary substitutes when COASTER trains are not running.

That route, together with connecting services offered by the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, can link riders from communities such as Oceanside, Carlsbad, Encinitas, and Solana Beach into San Diego’s urban core. From closed COASTER stations, passengers can usually board regular bus routes to reach trolley lines, which then carry them into downtown, Old Town, or the convention center area. However, trips that might normally take less than an hour on the train can easily stretch into two hours or more by bus and trolley, especially during busy weekend periods.

On the trolley side, the Rail Ready program includes dedicated bus bridges whenever Orange Line tracks are out of service. During the February 21 to 22, 2026 closure, those shuttles will mirror trolley routes so riders can still access each station. Fares for these replacement buses are integrated with the regular trolley fare structure, ensuring passengers do not pay extra to ride during construction weekends.

Travelers with time-sensitive commitments, such as flights or ticketed events, are advised to build in significant buffer time, verify bus bridge patterns, and consider non-transit options. Carpooling, app-based rides, and organized shuttles for large events may prove more practical for some, particularly outside the central urban corridor where bus frequencies are lower.

Impact on Local Communities Along the Rail Line

While the February shutdown is focused on rail operations, communities living near the tracks will also notice its impact, albeit in a different way. During past closures, NCTD and SANDAG have warned residents along the corridor to expect more construction vehicles, portable lighting, and noise from heavy equipment and power tools. Because some tasks require round-the-clock work, there may be nighttime activity, particularly near sensitive sites such as the Del Mar bluffs and busy junctions like Miramar.

Residents often experience temporary access restrictions near rail crossings while crews move machinery or materials into position. Although there are no passenger or freight trains running during the core of the closure, officials remind residents that work trains, hi-rail trucks, and other specialized vehicles can still use the right-of-way at any time. The message to the public remains consistent: stay away from the tracks except at designated crossings and respect closures and detours around construction zones.

On the positive side, these intense work periods can reduce the frequency of ad hoc night work during normal operations, since many tasks are consolidated into a single weekend. Over time, completed stabilization and maintenance work is expected to reduce the number of unexpected slow orders, emergency repairs, and noise-generating spot fixes that can disrupt both train service and neighborhood quiet.

Local officials also point to the broader economic benefits. By strengthening the corridor’s resilience to erosion and seismic risks, and by adding double-tracked segments, the projects carried out during closures help preserve a vital link for tourism, commuting, and freight. That, in turn, supports jobs and commerce up and down the coast, from downtown San Diego to North County and beyond.

How the Shutdown Fits Into the Long-Term Rail Realignment Plan

The February 2026 work window does not exist in isolation. It is part of a much larger strategy to secure the future of rail service in the San Diego region, one that stretches from incremental maintenance all the way to a wholesale relocation of the LOSSAN tracks off the crumbling Del Mar cliffs.

SANDAG is in the midst of a multi-year environmental review for a LOSSAN Rail Realignment project that would move approximately 1.7 miles of track inland between Del Mar and the northern edge of San Diego. The effort is driven by repeated landslides, erosion events, and related emergency shutdowns near the bluffs, which have already forced unplanned service suspensions in recent years. Geotechnical testing, which includes drilling and soil sampling near roads and existing rail structures, is now underway to refine possible alignments and construction methods.

Until a new inland route is built, the existing coastal tracks must be maintained and fortified. Each scheduled closure, including the February 2026 shutdown, is an opportunity to carry out work that both improves day-to-day reliability and buys time for the longer-term relocation. SANDAG engineers describe this as a dual-track strategy: stabilize and maintain the current line to keep it safe, while advancing design and public engagement for the future inland corridor.

For travelers, that means a decade likely marked by recurring closures and construction impacts, but also by gradual improvements, from new double-tracked sections to a more robust set of stations and connections. The planned addition of a downtown COASTER platform near the convention center later in the decade, for example, is being coordinated with other infrastructure projects to minimize conflicts during construction.

What Riders Should Do Now to Prepare

With February 2026 approaching, coastal rail users in San Diego County have several steps they can take now to reduce stress when the shutdown arrives. The first is to pay attention to official service alerts from NCTD and partner agencies. While core closure dates are set months in advance, small details such as first and last trains, substitute bus timings, and any added trips on parallel routes are often confirmed closer to the work window.

Regular riders may want to map out backup routes in advance, identifying which BREEZE routes or MTS buses connect their usual stations to key hubs like Old Town, Santa Fe Depot, or the transit centers in Oceanside and Escondido. Knowing how long those routes take in typical traffic and what their weekend frequencies look like can help travelers decide whether transit remains feasible during the closure or whether they should explore carpooling and other options.

Those planning long-distance trips should coordinate with intercity rail providers and airlines. Adjusting departure days, booking flexible tickets, or arranging overnight stays near working segments of the corridor can help avoid missed connections. Business travelers and event organizers may wish to alert guests and employees well in advance, particularly if their plans depend on coastal rail access to the Gaslamp Quarter, Petco Park, or the San Diego Convention Center.

Finally, riders can see the February shutdown as a reminder of the corridor’s vulnerability and the value of ongoing investment. While the disruption is inconvenient, transit officials argue that without these targeted closures and the projects they enable, San Diego County would face more frequent unplanned outages and even steeper long-term costs to restore service after major bluff failures or infrastructure breakdowns.