Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg hopped on an Amtrak train at San Diego's Old Town station Tuesday and took a ride up the coast of San Diego with federal and local leaders who were bending his ear about coastal erosion as he got a first-hand look.
Buttigieg said he has a better perspective of the urgency of what needs to be done after seeing how close the tracks are to the end of the bluffs on the coast.
“We have to make sure timetable of government and construction bend to meet the needs of physics, not the other way around. Certainly having now seen it for myself just how few feet stand between these rails and the bluffs and the beach, you can see how little room there is for maneuver, so to speak, there really is," said Buttigieg.
The Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo or LOSSAN Rail Corridor is an economic lifeline for the San Diego area.
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Daniel Grone is an example of why. He commutes by train several days a week from Los Angeles to Solana Beach for work.
Stories Along the Bluffs
Grone said he loves the commute because he is able to be productive during it and the trains mostly run on time.
But he’s worried about his commute will be derailed because of erosion repairs in San Clemente that is halting passenger train travel from Orange County to San Diego.
“To not have that now makes the job not manageable," said Grone.
Stabilizing the bluffs has been a priority over the years, especially after three people died in an Encinitas bluff collapse in 2019.
And while a bluff collapse in February of 2021 in Del Mar didn't injure anyone, it triggered 15 months of emergency repairs that ended in June.
$300 million from the State of California’s recently passed budget will be used to help relocate the LOSSAN Rail Corridor off the bluffs within about 30 years, according to SANDAG.
But SANDAG said more money is needed.
Local leaders, including SANDAG’s executive director, is hoping with Secretary Buttigieg now seeing the urgency firsthand, they’ll be able to tap into billions of dollars from President Joe Biden's infrastructure bill.
"They need to take this seriously,” said Hasan Ikhrat, SANDAG’s CEO.
“So the fact that he's here is a great signal and SANDAG is ready to deliver."
The infrastructure bill includes more than $43 billion for passenger rail grants, in addition to another $10 billion specifically for rail improvements and safety grants in California.
