Solana Beach Is Named to Replace Del Mar as Train Stop on L.A. Run : Transportation: Del Mar passenger service, a tradition since 1911, will end by 1992 unless the city can talk Amtrak into limited service.

Solana Beach on Wednesday was named an official passenger stop on the Los Angeles-to-San Diego train line, replacing Del Mar despite the latter city’s plea for partial Amtrak service.

Del Mar, which has had passenger train service since 1911, will be dropped from the schedule once a new transit center is opened at Lomas Santa Fe Drive and the coast highway in the center of Solana Beach by the end of 1992.

Del Mar Mayor Brooke Eisenberg won a small concession from the LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency’s policy board at its meeting here when it agreed to reword its resolution to delete any reference to dropping Del Mar as a passenger stop.

Eisenberg said the Del Mar City Council is negotiating with Amtrak officials in Washington to continue limited Amtrak service at Del Mar after the Solana Beach transit center is opened.

She said a proposal will be considered by the Del Mar City Council on Jan. 16 and be submitted to Amtrak by the end of the month.

Neither Del Mar nor Solana Beach has been eager to accept the designation as a regional transit center after Oceanside-to-San Diego rail commuter service begins. But Solana Beach city officials finally agreed to the mid-city location after Del Mar’s station was determined to be too small and other sites brought opposition from local residents and Del Mar Fairgrounds officials.

Eisenberg and Del Mar Restaurant Assn. spokesman Paul Frankel told the LOSSAN board that the city’s business community will suffer if Amtrak service is removed. Frankel said that Del Mar receives 80% of its revenue from local businesses and from the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

The LOSSAN policy board, which includes elected officials from San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles counties, coordinates rail projects and funds in the three-county area.

Discussion of locating a third Del Mar-area train stop on the fairgrounds to serve fair-goers and race-track patrons brought a protest against “everybody cutting their own deals” from one LOSSAN board member.

“If everybody gets everything they want, we’ll end up with a three-hour train,” the board member said. The existing Los Angeles-to-San Diego Amtrak run takes 2 hours, 45 minutes.

Solana Beach Councilwoman Celine Olson said she does not oppose Del Mar seeking limited Amtrak train service, but stressed that all trains--Amtrak and commuter trains--should stop at the new Solana Beach station.

“We will serve Del Mar as adequately as Del Mar has served us over the years,” Olson said, adding that the Solana Beach location would be more convenient than the Del Mar station for residents of nearby communities, including Rancho Santa Fe and Fairbanks Ranch.

The Solana Beach transit center will provide free parking for train riders as part of a joint venture between commercial development and public transit.