San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway

At its peak, the SD&A operated of rail stretching from San Diego to El Centro. Today, the SD&AE operates approximately of the original SD&A system, across four segments: • Main Line: Runs from downtown San Diego south to San Ysidro. Also used by the San Diego Trolley's Blue Line. • La Mesa Branch: Runs east to the city of El Cajon. Also used by the San Diego Trolley's Orange Line. • Coronado Branch (currently unused): Splits from the Main Line in National City and runs south to Imperial Beach. • Desert Line (unused since 2008): Runs from the Mexico–United States border near Tecate to Plaster City. == History ==

, 2010. The San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway traces its origins back to December 14, 1906, when entrepreneur John D. Spreckels announced he would form the San Diego and Arizona Railway (SD&A) to connect San Diego with Southern Pacific (SP) lines in El Centro, California, providing a direct rail link to the east. Spreckels had an agreement with SP to silently fund the project. Groundbreaking for the line took place on September 7, 1907. The SD&A reached an agreement with the Mexican Government in 1909 to route the tracks over the border. As part of the agreement, the SD&A was ordered to form the Tijuana and Tecate Railway, which would construct and hold a 99-year lease on the Mexican rail segment. The San Diego Metropolitan Transit Development Board (MTDB) stepped in and offered to buy the SD&AE for $18.1 million (equivalent to $ million in ) if SP fully repaired the line. The deal closed on August 20, 1979. The purchase gave MTDB two sections of right-of-way that could be used for mass transit: the SD&AE Main Line from downtown San Diego to the San Ysidro Port of Entry, which would become the Blue Line of the San Diego Trolley; and the SD&AE La Mesa Branch from downtown San Diego to El Cajon, which would become the Orange Line. As part of the deal, SP retained the section of the Desert Line between Plaster City and El Centro (now the Union Pacific El Centro Subdivision), and all tracks had to remain available for freight service. The board reached a deal with the San Diego and Imperial Valley Railroad on March 8, 1984, to continue to move railcars from the end of the Santa Fe Railway in downtown San Diego to industrial customers in the San Diego area or to the Mexico–United States border in San Ysidro. However, freight service between San Ysidro and Plaster City has struggled. Additional natural disasters and the bi-national nature of the line have closed the line several times since 1979, and the line has been unused since 2008. In November 2021, the lease was cancelled for the most recent lessor of the line, the Baja California Railroad. The Pacific Southwest Railway Museum operates on a portion of the line in Campo. == References ==