A revised list of possible routes to take the train tracks off the crumbling cliffs at Del Mar was approved Friday by the San Diego Association of Governments, the region’s planning agency.
Three of the chosen alternatives would include a tunnel. Those proposed routes are: beneath the community’s main road known as Camino Del Mar; under the city’s Crest Canyon; or along the edge of the Del Mar Fairgrounds below the Interstate 5 right-of-way.
The latest list adds the possibility of leaving the tracks in place on the bluffs and installing a second set of rails there to allow more efficient train traffic. The California Coastal Commission went on record this week opposing that because of the additional seawalls, retaining walls and stabilization work that would be needed.
Even if a tunnel is built, the existing bluff-top route must be kept available for trains because of long-term commitments with the Defense Department, Amtrak and freight carriers, North County Transit District Executive Director Shawn Donaghy said Friday.
“That line would have to continue to be maintained as an active rail line,” Donaghy said.
The concept of keeping the tracks in place after the realignment is finished has not been discussed at previous public meetings. Some people, including Del Mar elected officials, have suggested the railroad right-of-way could become a trail or a park.
NCTD owns the railroad from downtown San Diego to the Orange County border and is responsible for its maintenance with the help of SANDAG.
The route is part of the 351-mile Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo, or LOSSAN, corridor used by Amtrak, Coaster commuters and BNSF freight trains, and is part of the military’s Strategic Rail Corridor Network. It is San Diego’s only rail connection to Los Angeles and the rest of the United States.
The new list of possible alignments requires SANDAG to issue another notice of preparation for the project’s environmental documents.
A previous notice issued in June 2024 prompted the submission of more than 1,500 public comments. As a result, SANDAG decided to complete an independent value analysis that took a high-level look at 16 possible alternatives. Based on the results of that analysis released in mid-February, the SANDAG staff recommended the four alternatives approved Friday.
All of the newest recommendations avoid the need to go around the San Dieguito River Bridge, which will be replaced in the next few years. Last year’s notice included a route that started in Solana Beach and would have made the fully funded new bridge obsolete.
Construction estimates range from between $1.9 billion and $2.5 billion for expanding the existing blufftop right-of-way, to between $3.8 billion and $5 billion for the I-5 alignment.
Environmental documents also are required to examine what’s called the “no build” option, which leaves the tracks in place without double-tracking. The SANDAG report included no cost estimate for that, although additional stabilization eventually would be needed.
The new notice of preparation will trigger another 45-day comment period. Then work begins on environmental documents that could take three years to complete, during which the proposed alignments could be refined further.
“We are just at the beginning of the environmental process,” said Keith Greer, SANDAG’s deputy director of environmental compliance and climate.
Del Mar is San Diego County’s smallest city with fewer than 4,000 residents. Many people there oppose the tunnel because of concerns about noise, vibrations, pollution, property values, the likely use of eminent domain and more.
Del Mar Mayor Terry Gaasterland, a SANDAG board member, read a letter approved by her City Council stating she would abstain from the discussion and the decision, adding that the city intends “to keep all of its options open.”
The 22nd District Agricultural Association Board of Directors, which runs the Del Mar Fairgrounds, has officially opposed any route that goes under the fairgrounds. Construction there would halt activities such as the San Diego County Fair, thoroughbred horse racing and other revenue-producing activities for nearly a decade, the fair board said.
San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones was one of three on the 21-member SANDAG board who voted no. She said she needed more information about specific properties affected by the tunnel before making a decision.
“I don’t think I can support having it under somebody’s home,” Jones said. “I don’t think I can support eminent domain. I’m not comfortable displacing someone from their family home.”
Other board members thanked the SANDAG staff for their extensive work to publicize the realignment efforts and to explore the options available.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen this level of analysis,” said Joe LaCava, a San Diego City Council member. “If we listened to the public we would throw out every single alternative and just leave the tracks where they are, as the bluffs collapse into the ocean. To me, that’s not acceptable.”
Oceanside Mayor Esther Sanchez congratulated SANDAG for its decision to “hit the reset button” in response to residents’ concerns.
“The rail is extremely important to Oceanside,” Sanchez said, adding that many people ride the train to work and that is likely to increase as the population grows.
“It’s not a question of should we do this,” she said. “We have to do this.”
About 1.7 miles of the railroad, which dates to the 1880s, is built atop the eroding coastal bluffs in Del Mar. Officials say it is essential to reroute that segment of the tracks before it collapses.
Because of Del Mar’s steep topography, a tunnel is the only option for moving the tracks inland. At the tunnel’s deepest point, trains would be hundreds of feet underground.
All four routes approved for further studies have been adjusted from previous suggestions and could be changed further as the design and engineering processes proceed.
So far, only general locations have been suggested for the tunnel’s entry and exit portals. No specific properties have been identified, although eminent domain is likely in areas near the portals.
Other options reviewed in the value analysis study included moving the entire rail corridor to the I-5 right-of-way from Oceanside to Sorrento Valley, which could cost up to $45 billion, and building a new railroad for freight trains along the Interstate 15 through Escondido for up to $158 billion.
Both those alternatives have been discussed in the past and dismissed as unlikely.
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