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$21 million federal grant boosts coastal rail improvements SANDAG

Plans to add an additional track along the second busiest passenger rail corridor in the nation recently received a boost from the federal government. The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded SANDAG $21 million, through Caltrans, to begin early engineering and design of three coastal rail projects. The funds will help pave the way toward the eventual double-tracking of the majority of the rail system from Orange County to downtown San Diego.

SANDAG will design the funded projects in collaboration with the North County Transit District, Metropolitan Transit System, the Federal Railroad Administration, and Caltrans. Two of the projects are part of the North Coast Corridor Program, a broader package of transportation and environmental improvements including the I-5 Express Lanes project.

The grant will fund preliminary engineering and environmental work for:

  • A second main track and replacement of an aging railway bridge over the San Luis Rey River in Oceanside.
  • A 1.1 mile second main track, new rail bridge, and a seasonal platform in Del Mar that will provide direct passenger access to the Fairgrounds.
  • Double tracking 2.6 miles of the coastal rail line between State Route 52 and Morena Boulevard in the City of San Diego.

SANDAG also is working with its rail partners to achieve the goals of the recently adopted SANDAG 2050 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP), which calls for increasing reliability and improved train travel times in the coastal rail line, also known as the LOSSAN corridor.

More than 20 capital projects are now in engineering, environmental review, or construction along the 60-mile San Diego rail segment. The cost of the program is currently estimated to be $725 million. At the present time, more than $430 million has been allocated to the design and construction of these rail improvements over the next five years.

The majority of the rail improvement projects are focused on adding a second track to allow COASTER, Amtrak, and BNSF Railway freight trains to pass freely. Other improvements will modernize rail bridges, create safe pedestrian crossings, improve stations with new passing tracks and platforms, and install “crossover” tracks that allow trains to easily shift from one track to the other.

Capital Rail Program Highlights:

Early in the New Year, Amtrak will complete the construction of 1.9 miles of second main track between Carlsbad Village Drive and Palomar Airport Road. The $20.8 million project features a new rail bridge over the Agua Hedionda Lagoon.

SANDAG is working to complete the construction of a new double track bridge over the Santa Margarita River, just north of Oceanside. The $40.6 million project is expected to be completed in late 2012.

Early this year, SANDAG will begin construction on another 1.1 mile stretch of second track in the Sorrento Valley area, southeast of the Sorrento Valley COASTER Station. The $39 million project is the first phase of a major capital program to decrease travel times by double tracking and straightening the now-winding tracks around Miramar hill.

In an effort to improve pedestrian safety along the coastal rail corridor, SANDAG and the City of Encinitas will soon break ground on a $5.9 million pedestrian undercrossing beneath the railroad tracks at Santa Fe Drive, near Swami’s Beach. The project is expected to be complete by the end of 2012.

Other track enhancement and protection projects nearing completion include the $8 million replacement of the aging wooden rail bridge at Trestles Beach near the Orange County line and a $4.8 million effort to stabilize the eroding coastal bluffs in Del Mar to preserve trackbed support. As these projects are completed, SANDAG will begin the installation of two rail crossovers near Tecolote Creek and Washington streets in the City of San Diego to facilitate passenger and freight train movement.

For more information about the LOSSAN capital rail program, visit www.KeepSanDiegoMoving.com/LOSSAN.

Project Manager

Leslie Wade, Senior Public Outreach Officer
Phone: (619) 699-7313, E-mail: leslie.wade@sandag.org