According to the local press, the North [San Diego] County Transit District just approved a construction contract for building the Sprinter commuter line. This is an existing BNSF freight branch that sees limited weekday service (to lumber yards and feed mills).
Expected opening date for commuter service pushed back two years to December 2007.
I have heard that previously this branch’s future was uncertain. I guess this will save it from abandonment. That is always good, even if the roadbed is preserved under rails to trails it would probably be impossble to put rails back in.
Yes I’m glad to see the line will stick around (unlike the Fallbrook branch which is now mostly gone). Actually the sidings near the end of the line always have a large number of covered hoppers, and the lumber siding always has a couple of bulkhead flats. I was just there Friday the 16th and all looked fine.
They have actually started adding the second track already at one of the grade crossings along the route.
I seem to recall an article in the late, great Pacific Rail News about this branch.
You could be right; PRN did a good job of covering the local lines. The area is now largely built up with houses and apartments and shopping centers. The parallel highway (route 78) is 3 lanes each way and has a steady load of traffic
Indeed PRN did. I think it was a bad decision to go national. They did not cover anything as well once they did. It is probably no coincidence that they went out of business a few years later.