Only track crews could get anywhere by rail

Coaster and Amtrak riders this weekend found they could ride all they wanted, but it best had been by plane or automobile, not train. That is, if they wanted to get there.

Rail service along the 351-mile Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo, or LOSSAN, rail corridor, was suspended in both directions on Saturday through 5 a.m. Monday from Oceanside to San Diego for track and signal improvements, according to the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). The rail line passes through six counties, servicing more than 7 million passengers and many freight trains.

The scheduled rail work in Encinitas, Carlsbad and San Diego affected weekend rail service for the four railroads that use the corridor — the North County Transit District, Metrolink, Amtrak and freight line BNSF. Rail service resumed Monday for morning commute hours with some delays expected to last 15 minutes.

And hold on to your train passes. Similar weekend closures are also planned for March 11-12, March 25-26, April 29- 30 and possibly May 20-21.

Track crews in Encinitas “grinded” existing rails, a procedure designed to prolong track life, adjusted the track’s ballast and replaced rail ties. Improvements were part of the $76.8 million San Elijo Lagoon double-tracking project to add a second rail track between Cardiff-by-the-Sea and San Elijo Lagoon. SANDAG expected the project to be completed this spring.

Crews in Carlsbad resurfaced and realigned existing railway in preparation of the rail line’s new western alignment. The $33.7 million Poinsettia Station Improvements Project “will lengthen and elevate passenger platforms, install a fence between the tracks within the station, relocate a section of the existing tracks, and replace the existing at-grade rail crossings with an undercrossing featuring stairways and ADA compliance ramps on both sides of the tracks,” according to SANDAG. The agency expects the project to be completed in 2020.

At San Diego

Rail crews worked on rail infrastructure along Morena Boulevard and Santa Fe Street. The work was part of the Elvira to Morena Double Track Project, which was expected to be completed later this year. According to SANDAG, the project is being completed concurrent with the Mid-Coast Trolley extension, which will extend Metropolitan Transit System service 11 miles from Santa Fe Depot in downtown San Diego to University City.

San Diego work crews also continued bridge construction work near Friars Road at the site of the San Diego River Bridge Double Track Project, which will add nearly a mile of doubled railroad track across the river.

All four weekend rail work projects were part of SANDAG’s Build NCC (North Coast Corridor) program, a 40-year, $700 million effort to repair and expand vehicle and rail transportation infrastructure throughout the county.

Once completed, county officials anticipate adding a total of 13 miles of new carpool and high-occupancy vehicle freeway lanes, 1 1/2 miles of doubled railroad track, seven miles of bike and pedestrian paths and more than 1,200 acres of restored and preserved coastal habitat land.

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