 | |||
 SDIY 702, a locomotive for the San Diego and Imperial Valley Railroad at the railroad's yard in Downtown San Diego. | |||
| Overview | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Main region | San Diego | ||
| Fleet | TwoNRE 3GS21B diesel-poweredgenset locomotives | ||
| Parent company | Genesee & Wyoming | ||
| Reporting mark | SDIY | ||
| Dates of operation | 1984 (1984)– | ||
| Technical | |||
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge | ||
| Length | 38.8 miles (62.4 km) (7.2 miles (11.6 km) currently unused)[1] | ||
| Other | |||
| Website | San Diego & Imperial Valley Railroad | ||
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TheSan Diego and Imperial Valley Railroad (SD&IV) (reporting markSDIY) is aclass III railroad operating freight rail service in theSan Diego area, providing service to customers in the region and moving railcars between the end ofBNSF Railway indowntown San Diego and theMexico–United States border inSan Ysidro. It was established in October 1984 and is owned and operated byGenesee & Wyoming.
The railroad has exclusivetrackage rights to operate over tracks of theSan Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway, a subsidiary of theSan Diego Metropolitan Transit System, the regionalpublic transit service provider. Tracks are shared with theSan Diego Trolley, another subsidiary of the Metropolitan Transit System, and freight trains are only operated at night when passenger service is not in operation.
The San Diego & Imperial Valley Railroad was established after March 8, 1984, whenRailTex signed an agreement with Metropolitan Transit Development Board (known as the Metropolitan Transit System after 2005) to operate freight service across its San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway.[1]
The Metropolitan Transit Development Board (MTDB) had purchased the railroad from the financially strugglingSouthern Pacific Railroad in August 1979 with plans to convert the Main Line between San Diego and San Ysidro for use by light rail passenger trains and to preserve rail freight services between thePort of San Diego and theImperial Valley. The MTDB initially signed an agreement withKyle Railways to operate the line, but a storm in January 1980 damaged the Desert Line (between the Mexico–United States border inTecate andPlaster City) and the portion of the line between Tijuana and Tecate (owned by another company) which wasn't repaired until January 1983. Just six months after the line reopened, a fire on June 18, 1983, destroyed two bridges on the Desert Line. After the fire, Kyle Railways petitioned theInterstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to abandon the railway, a request that was denied on April 25, 1984.[1]
RailTex's application to operate freight service along the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway was approved by the ICC on August 9, 1984, and the San Diego & Imperial Valley Railroad began operation on October 15, 1984. The new general manager of the SD&IV, Dick Engle, persuaded local carriers to ship on this line and invited Mexican customers to start receiving shipments.[citation needed] The effort was met with much skepticism and took place more than 10 years before the signing of theNorth American Free Trade Agreement, that would increase cross-border shipping. On August 1, 1986, the SD&IV entered into a multi-year agreement with the Mexican Government to provide freight service into Baja California.[1]
The work to repair the Desert Line proved challenging. In July 1989, SD&IV began to repair the burned trestles and collapsed tunnels on the line, but the estimated cost for the work was overwhelming for the railroad and work was halted in the early 1990s. In the early 2000s, investors calling themselvesCarrizo Gorge Railway made an offer to make the needed repairs to the Desert Line and pay fees to the SD&IV and the MTDB in exchange for trackage rights. The deal was approved by all parties in April 2003 and repairs on the line began.[1]
In 2000, the Coronado Branch from the 12th Street Junction in National City to Imperial Beach, CA saw its last shipment. Since then, the line has seen no traffic, and the connection to the Main Line has been removed.[citation needed]
The Desert Line reopened to freight service in January 2005. By October 2008 the condition of the track had deteriorated to the point that the Carrizo Gorge Railway closed the Desert Line. The Metropolitan Transit System (former MTDB) terminated the deal with Carrizo Gorge Railway in December 2012 and awarded new, long term operating agreement for the Desert Line to thePacific Imperial Railroad. Earlier that year, on January 1, 2012, theBaja California Railroad assumed control of the line between Tijuana and Tecate which connected SD&IV's Main Line in San Diego with the Desert Line. The Pacific Imperial Railroad spent years negotiating a deal with the Baja California Railroad to transport freight over its tracks, which it said delayed its repairs to the Desert Line.[2] The Pacific Imperial Railroad declared bankruptcy in October 2016.[3] The Baja California Railroad purchased the rights to use the Desert Line in March 2017 with an agreement to pay the Metropolitan Transit System a million dollars per year to retain its lease.[4] As of February 2019[update] Baja California Railroad has made no repairs to the line.[4]
The San Diego & Imperial Valley Railroad holds the exclusive right to operate freight service over three lines owned by the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway:[1]
The San Diego & Imperial Valley Railroad does not hold the rights to operate over the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway's Desert Line in theImperial Valley.
Despite operating on the electrified right-of-way of theSan Diego Trolley, the San Diego and Imperial Valley Railroad uses twoNRE 3GS21B diesel-poweredgenset locomotives instead ofelectric locomotives, as therail yards used to marshal the trains are not electrified. However, genset locomotives are more fuel-efficient and have lower emissions than most traditional diesel locomotives as they are powered by three smaller engines that are turned off and on as needed. The overhead electric wires also prevent thedouble-stacking ofshipping containers on rail cars on the line.[5]
Freight trains only operate between 2 am and 4 am when San Diego Trolley passenger trains are not in operation.
The railroad interchanges with the BNSF Railway in San Diego and the Baja California Railroad in San Ysidro and the railroad's main source of traffic is moving railcars between the two other railroads. The primary commodities hauled are petroleum products, agricultural products, and wood pulp. The SD&IY hauled around 6,500 carloads in 2008.[6]
