Plans to relocate the railroad tracks that run along the Del Mar buffs are closer to becoming a reality, officials with the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) revealed on Wednesday.
Amid growing concerns about the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) rail corridor tracks’ proximity to the eroding bluffs, the agency secured $300 million from the state in July to move the tracks inland. Those funds will be used for preliminary engineering work, public outreach and to conduct environmental studies of the area, SANDAG announced in a press conference on Wednesday.
Del Mar Bluffs
LOSSAN is the second-busiest railway station in the nation, hauling about 8 million passengers annually and about $1 billion in goods each year. The high volume of travelers and imports used on these tracks is why SANDAG has prioritized this project.
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“We’ve all heard about shortages of materials, and freight is one of the ways - and trains are one of the ways - we get all of those materials and goods across the nation,
When an issue with the bluffs occurs, SANDAG said trains are ordered to slow or even stop entirely.
Part of the solution to getting the tracks closer to a safer area is by moving them inland along a 50-to-90 foot tunnel. The agency said if all goes well, the new tracks should be finished no later than 2035.
