Trains on Section of San Diego-L.A. Run Slowed During Maintenance

Federal railroad officials, citing safety concerns, Friday ordered speed reductions along 75 of the 102 miles of Santa Fe railroad track between San Diego and Fullerton, adding 15 to 25 minutes to the one-way running times of Amtrak passenger trains using the line to and from Los Angeles.

The speed restrictions will last until Thursday of next week, when Santa Fe track crews are expected to complete maintenance work required by the Federal Railroad Administration after a two-day inspection.

Santa Fe announced the restrictions late Friday and said it will put its crews out daily to bring the line back up to normal standards, which involve running speeds as high as 90 m.p.h.

Seven Amtrak passenger trains run daily in each direction between Los Angeles and San Diego along the affected line, which is Amtrak’s second-busiest route after the Northeast Corridor. The running time under normal circumstances is about 2 hours and 40 minutes.

The track is owned and maintained by Santa Fe, which leases passenger train rights to Amtrak, the federally subsidized rail corporation. The line between Fullerton and Los Angeles, part of Santa Fe’s main East-West transcontinental route, is not affected by the go-slow orders.

No Safety Compromise

“Barring any weather-related circumstances, we hope to have the track back up by Thursday at the latest,” said Michael A. Martin, a spokesman for Santa Fe Railroad. “Our engineer people said that we are not going to compromise the safety of the line. . . . If the FRA had said we had to run at 35 miles per hour all the way to San Diego, then we would do that.”

Martin said the inspection turned up problems in what are called surface conditions, such as rough spots at certain track joints and at some switches, which in the worst case might result in a derailment.

While the federal inspection was coincidental with the Amtrak collision in Maryland last Sunday in which 15 people were killed and more than 100 injured, Martin said, the tragedy nevertheless contributed to the rapidity of Santa Fe’s response Friday.

The restrictions involve a variety of speed reductions, Martin said. In some places, the trains will have to slow from 90 m.p.h. to 80. In other areas, trains will slow from 35 m.p.h. to 15.

“We are not talking about track repairs that are going to shut us down or involve major maintenance projects,” Martin said. “The basic integrity of the line is still good.”

90-M.P.H. Speed Certified

Federal officials classify the line as Class 5 track, certifying it for maximum speeds of 90 m.p.h. Only Class 6 track between New York and Washington, with a 120-m.p.h. maximum, is ranked higher.

The coastal line is the first to be inspected by federal officials using a new rail maintenance car, which will check all lines nationwide over which Amtrak trains run. Martin said Santa Fe engineers are not convinced that the San Diego-Fullerton line has as many problems as the FRA found.

“But we are not in any way criticizing what the FRA ordered,” Martin said.

Martin said that Santa Fe has its own high-technology maintenance cars that run over the line at least twice a year. “What we want to do is find out the (calibrations) and data-gathering procedures of the FRA car and improve on our own, to standardize inspections.

“It costs us a lot of money to run our own inspections, and we want to make sure that the criteria that we use is correct.” Martin said the FRA car, because it is new, could be overly sensitive. “But the FRA is responsible for enforcing the standards,” he added.

Martin said Santa Fe considers itself one of the top railroads in terms of safety. “This news is like the (Chicago) Bears being beaten by Tampa Bay in football,” he said. “It’s really eye-opening for us.”