Oceanside CA— SANDAG opened 5.2 miles of new double track at two locations along the 60-mile San Diego County segment of the LOSSAN (Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo) rail corridor, following a weekend train traffic shutdown to accommodate construction. Double tracking enhances operational efficiency and capacity by allowing trains traveling in opposite directions to pass without slowing down or stopping.
“This is the most double track we’ve ever opened in one weekend,” SANDAG Chair and Santee Councilmember Jack Dale said. “To date, the LOSSAN corridor is 67 percent double tracked, up from 57 percent. Every mile of double track we add helps to improve the movement of people and goods through the corridor and take pressure off the I-5 freeway.”
SANDAG is working in collaboration with the North County Transit District and planning to construct approximately $1 billion in improvements along the San Diego segment of the LOSSAN rail corridor over the next 20 years. The rail enhancements are part of a package of transportation, environmental, and coastal access improvements within the North Coast Corridor.
Crews from Flatiron Construction, H & H Engineering Construction and Hertzog Technologies Inc. worked around the clock on two projects from midnight Friday, May 1, through midnight Sunday, May 3, completing the work in time to allow the first commuter train to operate as usual on Monday morning.
On Camp Pendleton, construction crews removed Control Point San Onofre and commissioned a new Control Point, DON, and completed 4.2 miles of double track from the San Onofre Weigh Station to near Las Pulgas Road. In Sorrento Valley, construction crews moved Control Point Torrey one mile north, and added one mile of double track. Work on the first phase of the San Onofre Double Track Project and the Sorrento Valley Double Track Project began in early 2014. The projects are expected to be fully completed in the fall.
The San Onofre to Pulgas Double Track Project, Phase 1 adds 4.2 miles of second mainline rail track within Camp Pendleton for $37-million. The project included the replacement of one wooden trestle rail bridge with a new concrete structure, the addition of a universal track crossover, and new signaling.
The Sorrento Valley double track adds one mile of double track north of the Sorrento Valley COASTER Station and will provide an additional 71 parking spaces when completed for $31.8-million. Portions of the existing track bed were raised placing it above the 50-year flood level. In addition, two wooden trestle bridges, originally built in the 1940s, were replaced with new concrete structures.