Puerto Suello Hill Tunnel
Overview | |
---|---|
Location | San Rafael, California |
Coordinates | 37°59′21″N 122°31′45″W / 37.989201°N 122.529114°WCoordinates: 37°59′21″N 122°31′45″W / 37.989201°N 122.529114°W |
Status | testing for commuter rail service |
Start | Lincoln Avenue[1] / Los Ranchitos Road |
End | Hammondale Court |
Operation | |
Opened | 1879 |
Closed | 1980s |
Rebuilt | 1967 |
Reopened | 2017 (expected) |
Owner | Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit |
Operator | Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit |
Character | Commuter rail tunnel |
Technical | |
Track length | 1⁄4 mile (0.4 km) |
No. of tracks | 1 |
Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
Lowest elevation | 50 feet (15 m) below surface |
Puerto Suello Tunnel is a rail tunnel in San Rafael, California. It was constructed in 1879[2] by the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad and is 1⁄4 mile (0.4 km)[3] long.
The tunnel was partially destroyed in 1961 by a fire, which was set by two boys. The fire killed 23-year-old firefighter Frank Kinsler when his truck fell 50 feet into the chasm.[4] It was rebuilt for freight service in 1967, but was closed and boarded up in the mid-1980s with the discontinuation of Northwestern Pacific Railroad services.[2][3] The state owned North Coast Railroad Authority and the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District took ownership of the tunnel in the 1970s and was thereafter acquired by SMART in 2003.[2]
It was retrofitted by SMART for a cost of $3 million in 2015.[3] The 2017 California floods caused damage to the tunnel, delaying system's opening testing for three weeks.[1]
References
- 1 2 Prado, Mark (3 April 2017). "Landslide risk in San Rafael halts SMART testing". Marin Independent Journal. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
- 1 2 3 Prado, Mark (18 March 2015). "Puerto Suello Hill Tunnel for commute rail delayed". Marin Independent Journal. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
- 1 2 3 Wood, Jim (February 2015). "A Tunnel's Second Act". Marin Magazine. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
- ↑ "Marin History Watch: San Rafael railroad tunnel collapse". Retrieved 2017-06-20.