Bluffs and Tracks

Tracking the recent proposed realignment possibilities aimed at getting the tracks off our continually receding bluffs has grown somewhat easier, with SANDAG reducing 16 “alternative concepts” in the Value Analysis Study to 4 it will propose for environmental review (plus the required“no build” option). Meanwhile, SANDAG’s work to stabilize the rails and bluffs continues on day and night occasionally disrupting the scheduled train runs.

However as reported in the San Diego Union-Tribune: “That alignment … on the bluff will remain active until the federal government decides either the military doesn’t have a use for it, (and) freight or passengers don’t have a use for it,” North County Transit District (NCTD) CEO Shawn Donaghy told the SANDAG board of directors. Donaghy noted an application to remove the old rail line “would likely not be approved by any federal partners until the new line is built, tested and there is confidence that redundancy is not needed.” How to fund the project is the next 5 billion dollars question.So, efforts go on to stabilize our fragile bluffs until the tracks can be moved, with a goal of relocating the tracks by 2035.