Escondido Subdivision

Legend

					NCTD San Diego Subdivision
					Oceanside Transit Center

					Escondido connecting track
					Coast Highway

					NCTD San Diego Subdivision
					I-5
					Crouch Street

					El Camino Real
					Rancho Del Oro
					College Boulevard

					Melrose Drive

					Vista Transit Center
					Civic Center–Vista

					Buena Creek

					San Diego Union Tribune Spur
					Palomar College
					San Marcos Civic Center
					freight bypass

					SR 78
					Cal State San Marcos
					Deere Spur


					SR 78
					Nordahl Road
					Pine Tree Lumber Spur
					I-15

					Sprinter Operations Facility
					Escondido freight track


					Escondido Transit Center

Sprinter running on the Escondido sub

NCTD route map. The Escondido Subdivision is shown in light blue.

The Escondido Sub is a 22-mile (35 km) branch railway line between Oceanside, California and Escondido, California, in the North County region of San Diego County.^[1] It is primarily used today by the Sprinter light rail and local freight trains serving Escondido industries. The former Pacific Sun Railroad ran a tri-weekly local freight service late at night, after the last Sprinter train of the day was taken out of service.

History[]

The line was built in 1888, along with the Surf Line, which is the main line it connects to on its western end and serves as the only rail connection between San Diego and Los Angeles. The line formerly served Santa Fe trains, with passenger trains operating until 1946.^[2] The North County Transit District, which operates local public transit services, purchased the line from the Santa Fe Railroad in 1992, to operate passenger rail service, which started on December 28, 2007.^[3] Before passenger service could start, the tracks of the branch were re-laid with new stations and an elevated loop constructed to Cal State San Marcos station, in preparation for the Sprinter.

Local Santa Fe (later BNSF) freight trains continued to operate over the line until 2008, when the service was contracted out to PSRR; this practice ended on October 1st, 2020 when PSRR's contract with BNSF expired. For a very short amount of time, NCTD used Coaster Equipment for track repairs. In 2020, the Pacific Sun railroad stopped service, and freight service on this route was began by the BNSF Railway, which also operates freight service on the nearby Surf Line.^[4]

References[]

^ SMA Rail Consulting (April 2016). "California Passenger Rail Network Schematics" (PDF). California Department of Transportation.
^ Burge, Michael (March 10, 2008). "Passenger train sprints into service". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on April 22, 2008. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
^ "Full speed ahead for San Diego's SPRINTER". Progressive Railroading. January 2008. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
^ September 4; 2020. "Digest: BNSF to take over route operated by California short line | Trains Magazine". TrainsMag.com. Retrieved 2021-02-19.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

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[schematics-1] SMA Rail Consulting (April 2016). "California Passenger Rail Network Schematics" (PDF). California Department of Transportation.

[2] Burge, Michael (March 10, 2008). "Passenger train sprints into service". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on April 22, 2008. Retrieved August 4, 2021.

[3] "Full speed ahead for San Diego's SPRINTER". Progressive Railroading. January 2008. Retrieved 2021-01-18.

[4] September 4; 2020. "Digest: BNSF to take over route operated by California short line | Trains Magazine". TrainsMag.com. Retrieved 2021-02-19.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

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