Line Gets New Life
S.D.-Arizona Rail
The Metropolitan Transit Development Board awarded a contract to Lakeside-based Carrizo Gorge Railway Inc. to improve and operate the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway, which connects San Diego with Imperial Valley.
The contract, running through March 8, 2004, was awarded during a May 9 MTDB board meeting. The transit agency owns the right of way along the rail line.
The railway, completed in 1915, became impassable in the 1980s due to collapsed tunnels in the desert. Carrizo Gorge will reconstruct the tunnels and make other improvements to the railway in order to restore rail service between San Diego and Imperial Valley.
The project will establish a connection from San Diego to the transcontinental railroads traveling throughout the rest of North America, and a means for bringing agricultural products from the Imperial Valley to be exported from the Port of San Diego.
The railway connection is expected to increase maritime traffic at the port and expand opportunities for international trade. The railway crosses the U.S./Mexico border to avoid the mountains between San Diego and the Imperial Valley, and makes stops in Mexico.
The U.S. government is providing loan guarantees of almost $10 million for the project. The MTDB will not provide any subsidies for the improvements.
Carrizo Gorge will pay MTDB a use fee of 1 percent of the monthly gross freight revenue it earns from operating the rail line. The company will also pay a use fee of 6.9 percent of its monthly gross freight revenue to San Diego & Imperial Valley Railroad Inc., the current manager of the railway, which will continue to run freight service on the rail line.
, Mandy Jackson
