The LOSSAN Rail Corridor is an important rail system that links San Diego County to the rest of the state.
The eroding bluffs above the beaches in Del Mar have been inching closer to the rail tracks for decades, resulting in interruptions in rail service and making relocation of the tracks increasingly urgent.
SANDAG has been studying potential realignment routes for the last decade and is now preparing the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for several proposed routes. However, most of the routes under study do not serve the objectives of SANDAG’s own value analysis and entail massive disruption and destruction of coastal neighborhoods that are compelled to host the realignment.
Two of the proposed routes — the Camino Del Mar route and the Crest Canyon route — would require destructive tunnels under the city of Del Mar and pollution-spewing portals in coastal neighborhoods. Another, SANDAG’s southern yellow route, would run straight through the southern edge of the protected San Dieguito Lagoon.
Faced with these limited choices, which prioritize incremental speed increases over community interests, members of the public organized to find a better route that protects homes, businesses, and the coastal environment by largely circumventing them rather than running through or under them.
The Coalition for Safer Trains is a grassroots group of citizens advocating for a LOSSAN realignment route that best serves San Diego County while minimizing adverse impacts to the host realignment communities.
The coalition has proposed an alternative route, known as the Northern Yellow Line (NYL), to SANDAG. This route is designed to turn east at the southwestern corner of the Fairgrounds property and head east to Interstate 5 on an elevated viaduct over the edge of publicly owned property north of the San Dieguito Lagoon.
Under the new leadership of CEO Mario Orso, SANDAG has been responsive to public input, and it has begun studying the NYL for inclusion in the EIR.
The NYL could save $1 billion compared to other routes due to its features, which include a tunnel mostly located under Interstate 5 and the elimination of the need to acquire homes and businesses by eminent domain.
In addition to its probable cost advantage, the NYL is superior for many of the reasons named as key objectives of the realignment project:
- Improves rail service reliability by minimizing risks from climate change — the NYL is the only route that puts the rail entirely above the floodplain in Del Mar
- Minimizes impacts to existing homes and businesses — the NYL is the only route that prevents the destruction of residences and businesses in Del Mar
- Eliminates double tracks on berms in two lagoons
- Allows eventual removal of the old trestle bridge from the mouth of the San Dieguito Lagoon
- Allows removal of the railway through the Los Peñasquitos Lagoon
- Provides the opportunity to utilize electric trains in the future
A minor drawback to the NYL for some is a one-mile stretch of reduced speed in the 351-mile LOSSAN corridor as the train curves from the Fairgrounds to the Interstate 5 tunnel. SANDAG acknowledges that this brief loss of time can be made up elsewhere along the corridor.
Moreover, sacrificing a few seconds of travel time to preserve homes, businesses, beaches and coastal lagoons is the correct prioritization for route selection.
Given the importance of selecting the best realignment route, the coalition has raised concerns about SANDAG’s plan to begin construction of the San Dieguito Double Track Bridge (SDDTB) project in Del Mar in early 2027 — before the rail realignment EIR is complete.
The double-track bridge project was conceptually designed over a decade ago, before plans for the rail realignment became imperative. It was designed to connect with the existing route that travels over the bluffs and points toward the proposed Camino Del Mar or Crest Canyon routes — two of the most destructive realignment suggestions. If built, the southern portion of the bridge would have to be modified to accommodate the NYL.
In response to the coalition’s concerns, SANDAG has assured that construction of the bridge will not predetermine the selection of the realignment route, which it acknowledges is by far the larger and more important project for the region.
In other words, if the EIR, eminent domain and other community impact considerations show the NYL is the best realignment route — and the bridge is built before that decision — a portion of the bridge will be reconstructed to accommodate it.
In addition, it is possible that the EIR, projected to be completed in 2028, will be issued before the southern portion of the bridge is completed and could guide its completion.
Although ideally the construction of the bridge would await the EIR, if the bridge must be built first due to an anticipated long interval between its completion and construction of the realignment, it makes sense to use the bridge in the interim — but not to allow it to influence the route chosen for the much larger and more important rail realignment project.
We cannot allow the tail to wag the dog.
The coalition is confident that the NYL will prove to be the best realignment alternative and should be implemented as the long-range solution, even if it requires altering the San Dieguito Bridge.
Angelina Neglia, Amy Cheshire, Shirli Weiss and Michael Deftos are members of the Coalition for Safer Trains, a grassroots group of residents advocating for a rail realignment solution that improves reliability while minimizing impacts to coastal communities, homes and the environment.
