Railroad Tunnel Is a Shaky Idea for Some in San Juan Capistrano

As part of an ambitious plan to move more trains at faster speeds along the Southern California coast, Caltrans is considering a two-mile tunnel that would add two sets of tracks near San Juan Capistrano’s historic downtown district.

The added tracks would involve the demolition of a downtown parking structure. The tunnel, one of several considerations for handling trains along the Los Angeles-to-San Diego corridor, is part of a $10-billion proposal for improving rail transportation statewide.

The rail plan, which has encountered opposition in other cities, is doing so in San Juan Capistrano as well. Residents there not only are protective of the town’s historic district but also fear the construction would chill business and tourism. Some worry the vibration from the added tracks would be disruptive and damage the town’s old structures, such as its 226-year-old mission.

“The peasants will revolt,” said Dave Busk, who owns a large retail plaza and theater next to the parking structure. “They are not going to have their ambience and their whole economic viability destroyed because the tunnel is the cheapest alternative.”

Mission officials also are skeptical.

“If the trains got any closer, there’d be a whole lot of shaking going down,” said Sandy Wheeler, a mission spokeswoman. “I don’t know if the ruins or the adobe walls could handle that. We’ve survived pollution and numerous earthquakes. But I think that would be the ultimate earthquake to this area.”

The plan, still in its tentative stages, builds on Amtrak’s 20-year improvement program for the state that would expand service, increase capacity and shorten trips. Projects include curve realignments, traffic-control upgrades, underpasses and overpasses, parking and connections with buses and other mass transit.

Ridership on the Pacific Surfliner, between San Luis Obispo and San Diego, keeps growing, Amtrak officials said, and the Los Angeles-to-San Diego run is Amtrak’s second-busiest, after the one from Washington, D.C., to Boston.

Amtrak shares rights of way with commuter and freight trains. But because it doesn’t own the tracks, Amtrak usually must yield--causing delays of up to 30 minutes per trip. With double tracks, the trains could speed by one another without having to stop anywhere but stations.

The tunnel and other alternatives for moving train traffic around San Juan Capistrano have not been formally presented to city officials. Still, a Caltrans consultant said the idea would be to carve out a two-mile-long trench for the added tracks and then cover it, creating a tunnel that would run from a parking lot north of the existing depot to south of Del Obispo Street near the San Juan Creek crossing.

It would contain two tracks and possibly a platform. Caltrans officials said it would be up to Amtrak whether trains would continue to stop at the existing depot. San Juan Capistrano has had a rail station since the 1880s.

Steve Schibuola, project manager for the technical study, said the parking structure next to the depot would have to be demolished and rebuilt. Schibuola said he is aware that the tunnel would move trains closer to the mission’s fragile walls.

“Our vibration specialist will be looking at that,” Schibuola said. “We don’t have a lot of room to work with on that alternative. It’s like threading a needle through there.”

Caltrans is also considering an alternative plan for building a three-mile tunnel under Interstate 5. Schibuola said that tunnel would begin 1 1/2 miles north of downtown San Juan Capistrano, south of Junipero Serra Road and continue under the freeway. Another six-mile tunnel under Interstate 5 in San Clemente is also being studied.

Caltrans officials said tunnels cost anywhere from $80 million to $200 million a mile.

Other alternatives in San Juan Capistrano include staying with the existing single tracks or exploring an inland route. Caltrans had considered adding a second rail through the colorful Los Rios district, one of the state’s oldest neighborhoods. But California High-Speed Rail Authority officials, who are working with Caltrans on the project, said that option is no longer being considered.

“With Los Rios on the one side of the tracks and the historic district on the other, there is not enough room,” said Dan Leavitt, deputy director of the authority.

“There is just barely enough room for one track now.”

John Gelff, a San Juan Capistrano councilman, said city leaders may have relaxed prematurely when they learned that the line from Irvine to San Diego was no longer being considered as a corridor for high-speed rail service.

Gelff said that when the high-speed rail proposal was dumped, city officials concentrated on other issues--such as the controversial 356-home Whispering Hills development and the proposal for a Home Depot on the edge of town.

“The gravity of this issue is so much bigger than Home Depot because it would basically destroy their town,” said Stephanie Dorey, a San Clemente councilwoman.

Gelff favors the inland route but doesn’t believe Caltrans is seriously considering it.

“I understand the need for improving the service,” said Gelff, who is pushing for a Caltrans public hearing in San Juan Capistrano.

“But at what cost? Would it be worth it if the walls fell down at the mission because of the vibration?”