Daniel Zedack, chief of Railroads for National Defense, gave a brief presentation to the Del Mar City Council Oct. 21 about the military use of the rail corridor that runs along the Del Mar bluffs.
The presentation was spurred by Councilmember Dan Quirk and a small faction of residents who have been advocating for the elimination of the rail line, as opposed to a long-term plan to move it into an inland tunnel. They’ve pointed to ridership declines, and have also argued that it does not serve a significant purpose for the military.
The San Diego Association of Governments is in the process of selecting a route, possibly underground through Del Mar, and mapping out the billions of dollars it will take to build, with the goal of having it functional by 2035. SANDAG is taking feedback from Del Mar into account, but the city doesn’t have any decision-making ability.
“While the relative volume of DOD rail traffic on this corridor is small, that does not necessarily translate to small importance,” said Zedack, who read prepared remarks and answered council member questions.
He said the presentation was meant to present some of the key facts about the rail line, not advocate for a particular course of action.
According to his presentation, the LOSSAN corridor that extends from San Diego to San Luis Obispo is “a defense-important corridor” within the Strategic Rail Corridor Network (STRACNET), which includes 41,000 miles of rail throughout the country.
Zedack said highway transportation isn’t always a viable alternative for military transportation purposes because its more expensive, adds to traffic congestion and creates greater risks to the public.
“Highway is not a preferred method of transportation for most of our bulk transport use cases,” he said.
Zedack concluded: “I would like to ask that the council members and the public also consider impacts to other shippers on this corridor, including the potential economic impacts and the impacts of diverting freight along the corridor to other modes, should this rail corridor cease operations.”
Quirk said he thinks “the military argument is being used inappropriately to justify many, many billions of dollars in spending on these tracks.”
“My concern is that the military is being hoodwinked to support this when it’s not really legitimate,” he added. “I think that everyone understands that our military is incredibly important and valuable to the defense and safety of the United States, but is this really an appropriate area to not only spend billions and billions of dollars, but there are incredibly negative consequences to a tunnel in Del Mar. There will be private homes and businesses that are seized.”
Del Mar Mayor Dave Druker emphasized that the city “doesn’t have a whole lot of say” in the rail relocation project.
“Anybody here is allowed to interpret the facts any which way they want,” Druker said.