San Diego Metropolitan - The Connection

San Diego may yet get a direct rail connection to the eastern United States. If it does it will be in large part due to a commodity San Diegans take for granted — sand. That’s right — sand. And it’s sand needed here in San Diego, but not for beaches — for construction.

Without sand there is no housing industry, no industrial buildings, no shopping centers, not even curbs and sidewalks. Sand is needed to make concrete, stucco, cement blocks and even some types of roof tiles. It must be high-quality, salt-free sand mined from river banks. And San Diego, after decades of mining sand along its river beds, just doesn’t have much more that could be mined without serious environmental damage. But, the high-quality sand needed for construction is very much available along several lightly or un-mined Baja California river beds.

Sand’s new connection to San Diego starts with the saga of the 163-mile train track built in 1919 from San Diego to Imperial Valley, where it hooked up to the national rail system. The extremely rough mountainous topography immediately east of San Diego made it too expensive to build in that direction. So the line’s designers directed it south into Tijuana, then east a few miles past Tecate, re-entering San Diego at the community of Division, about 4 miles northeast of Tecate. These 44 miles were topographically construction friendly, resulting in San Diego’s eastern rail connection becoming a reality.

The train has operated since its inception, but in 1982 a portion of the line between Imperial Valley and Jacumba became inoperable due to tunnel collapses and fires. In those days cargo activity was minimal, making reopening the downed portion economically imprudent.

In 1979, the San Diego Metropolitan Transit Development Board purchased the railroad primarily for the right-of-way to be used for running the trolley. The purchase included the rail portion from Division to Plaster City in Imperial Valley.

Once the San Ysidro to Downtown San Diego trolley is put to bed each night, freight trains run for more than two hours carrying propane and other commodities to Tijuana. On the eastern side, the San Diego Railroad Museum runs sold-out weekend tours from Campo to Tecate twice a month. Activity is continuous, but nothing that comes close to tapping the line’s potential.

The split ownership of the 163 miles hasn’t helped — MTDB owns the track in San Diego and from Division to Plaster City. Mexico owns the part running from Tijuana to Division. MTDB was granting freight operating contracts to private sector companies, who in turn had to negotiate and obtain a rail rental agreement from the Mexican government for the 44-mile section in Baja.

Then Mexico decided to privatize its railroad system, seeking bids on the various routes and allowing foreign companies to partner with Mexican firms in making ownership — 25-year operating concession — proposals. While the main routes in Mexico were concessioned quickly and for hundreds of millions of dollars, the little 44-mile rail line from Tijuana-Tecate became a nightmare. In 1998, the original winner refused to make the payment, so the bid was nullified. In the next round, only one very low bid was received, so it was rejected by the Mexican government. Finally, granting of the concession to the state of Baja California was finalized in early 2001 after Baja proved to federal officials it could make the project work.

Now comes Carrizo Gorge Railway (CZRY) with the idea of shipping sand obtained from Tecate and Valle de las Palmas via rail to Campo in East County and from there trucking it to San Diego. The company successfully negotiated with the Baja government, which created a Mexican agency called Peninsular Railways of the Northwest.

Peninsular, in turn, has entered into a four-year contract with CZRY effective July 2001, and MTDB contracted with CZRY to operate the Division to Plaster City portion.

Sand shipments began in February of 2002, growing from five rail cars to 15 three times a week. CZRY principals expect the generated income and profit will attract the investment needed to open the down portion. But it will happen in small steps.

Gary Sweetwood, a CZRY director, says the smart way is to first invest in getting the tunnels open to the point that trains can pass through them, albeit very slowly. Continued investment over a period of time will improve the rail service and speed.

This is smart thinking. The downfall of previous attempts has been the insistence of making one huge investment that then required quick and large returns. By proving the rail line can make money, other commodities and products will be attracted to ship via rail to Northern California, the Midwest, East Coast and to the interior of Mexico.

However, nothing is easy in San Diego, so obstacles are likely, including political fears of the trains being used for smuggling. But this is a great beginning for the continued economic development of the binational region. We’re going to keep an eye on this project.

Patrick Osio Jr. can be reached through San Diego Metropolitan or by e-mail at posiojr@aol.com