| Coast Line | |
| Start: | San Francsico |
| End: | Los Angeles |
| Stations: | 68 |
| Type: | Commuter, freight and inter-city rail |
| Open: | 1871 (first section) 1901 (final section) |
| Tracklength: | 470miles |
| Tracks: | 1-4 |
| Electrification: | (San Francisco–Tamien) |
The Coast Line is a railroad line between Burbank, California and the San Francisco Bay Area, roughly along the Pacific Coast. It is the shortest rail route between Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Though not as busy as the Surf Line, the continuation of the Coast Line southbound to San Diego, it still sees freight movements and lots of passenger trains. The Pacific Surfliner, which runs from the San Diego Santa Fe Depot to San Luis Obispo via Union Station in Los Angeles, is the third busiest Amtrak route, and the busiest outside of the Northeast Corridor between Washington D.C. and Boston.
The San Francisco and San Jose Railroad built the first segment of the line from San Francisco to San Jose between 1860 and 1864. The founders of the SF&SJ incorporated as the Southern Pacific Railroad, which was authorized by Congress in 1866 to connect the line from San Jose south to Needles, where it would meet the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad. SP had built to Tres Pinos by 1873, however they abandoned efforts to continue the line to Coalinga, instead choosing a route from Lathrop.[1] [2]
By 1871, SP had completed a line south from San Jose through Gilroy and Pajaro, arriving at Salinas in 1872 and Soledad in 1873. SP halted southward work at Soledad for thirteen years and started building north from Los Angeles in 1873, completing a line to Burbank. In 1886, SP had pushed south from Soledad to King City, Paso Robles, and Templeton. Two routes through to Santa Barbara from Los Angeles were considered by the company: one following the Santa Clara River Valley and a second further south across Santa Susana Pass. The former was determined to be both cheaper and quicker to initially build, though the more expensive route was also seen as a desirable future addition. By 1887, the southern portion of the line had been extended through Newhall, Saugus, and Santa Paula to Santa Barbara.
By 1894, SP had extended the line south over the Cuesta Pass from Templeton to San Luis Obispo.[3] The work continued south to Guadalupe in 1895 and Surf in 1896. The 80miles gap between Surf and Santa Barbara was closed with the last spike driven on December28, 1900.[4]
The first version of the Coast Line was completed by the Southern Pacific Railroad on December31, 1900.[5] [6] It differed from the modern line with the original route running via the Ocean View line in San Francisco, the Market Street Depot in San Jose, Saugus and Santa Paula through the Santa Clara River Valley, and south into Los Angeles via the Valley Line.
The work between Ventura and Carpenteria eventually allowed the construction of the Rincon sea-level road for automobile traffic to travel this formerly impassible section of coastline.
Work on the Montalvo Cutoff, which crossed the Santa Clara River to serve the farmers in the Oxnard Plain and was extended to Santa Susana in Simi Valley, began in 1898. The Santa Susana Tunnel opened in 1904 connecting with the Chatsworth cutoff from Burbank and thereafter was the main line.[7] [8] Passenger and freight traffic declined dramatically at the Hueneme wharf in Ventura County as they shifted to the railroad.[9] A new straighter track was built between Chatsworth and Burbank to coincide with the new route, and the original line through the San Fernando Valley was designated as the Burbank branch.[10] In 1907, the Bayshore Cutoff opened from San Bruno to San Francisco, relegating the original main line through the Bernal Cut to branch status. In 1935 the new line around downtown San Jose opened and thereafter was the main line.
In the golden era of passenger service, SP trains on the San Francisco leg of this route ran from the Third and Townsend Depot in San Francisco to the Union Station in Los Angeles. The Oakland–Los Angeles trains originated from the 16th Street Station in Oakland.
The line has several subdivisions. Ownership is currently split into three segments:
The Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board purchased the line on the San Francisco Peninsula north of Tamien in 1991, and the line north of Santa Clara is primarily used by passenger services. In 1992, Southern Pacific granted the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission an option to purchase the entire Coast Line for passenger train operations at 110mi/hour. Upgrades to signals and tracks to enable higher-speed operations were estimated to cost $360 million at the time.[11] In the case of both purchases, SP retained freight trackage rights along those lines which continue to be held by the company's successor, Union Pacific.
Union Pacific freight trains run on the route, although the Fresno Subdivision through the San Joaquin Valley is the preferred north–south California route due to having easier grades and curves.[12] The freight trains are typically local freights, empty bare-table and autorack trains. The line sees varying freight activity across its length., the line between Niles and San Jose saw four freight trains per day, the segment between San Jose and Watsonville saw 13 freight trains per day, between Watsonville and San Luis Obispo saw 7, San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara saw 9, and 16 south of Santa Barbara to Los Angeles.[13] Freight trains were serving San Francisco via Caltrain tracks and Union Pacific's spur between Oakdale Avenue and Cargo Way .[14]
The Coast Line is used by commuter, regional, and inter-city passenger trains:
The southern part of the Coast Line is the northern portion of the 351adj=midNaNadj=mid LOSSAN Rail Corridor between San Luis Obispo and San Diego. Local agencies along with the host railroads formed the Los Angeles–San Diego-San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor Agency (LOSSAN) in 1989 to work together on upgrading the route.[15] Millions in enhancements to improve the reliability and safety of the railroad corridor have been proposed by Caltrans and federal railroad officials. Ventura County would get rail curve realignments near Seacliff, the Santa Clara River and Montalvo in the near term for an estimated $300million. Future rail service could include a Ventura–Santa Barbara commuter train.[16] Long-range plans also including commuter service between Ventura and Santa Clarita along the original route through the Santa Clara River Valley. The Ventura County Transportation Commission purchased the Santa Paula Branch Line within Ventura County from Southern Pacific. While a portion of the line was abandoned after being washed out in Los Angeles County, the Great Park development will provide for a route through the community of Valencia.[17]