The north portal of the tunnel in December 2019 | |
Overview | |
---|---|
Location | San Rafael, California |
Coordinates | 37°59′21″N 122°31′45″W / 37.989201°N 122.529114°W |
Status | in service |
Start | Lincoln Avenue[1] / Los Ranchitos Road |
End | Hammondale Court |
Operation | |
Opened | 1879 |
Closed | 1985 |
Rebuilt | 1967 |
Reopened | 2017 |
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 quarter-mile long rail tunnel in San Rafael, California. It was constructed in 1879, by the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad.
Background
[edit]The 1⁄4 mile (0.4 km) long[2] tunnel was built in 1879[3] by the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad.
It 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 1985 with the discontinuation of Northwestern Pacific Railroad services.[3][2] 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.[3]
It was retrofitted by SMART for a cost of $3 million in 2015.[2] The 2017 California floods caused damage to the tunnel, delaying system's opening testing for three weeks.[1]
External links
[edit]Media related to Puerto Suello Hill Tunnel at Wikimedia Commons
References
[edit]- ^ a b Prado, Mark (April 3, 2017). "Landslide risk in San Rafael halts SMART testing". Marin Independent Journal. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
- ^ a b c Wood, Jim (February 2015). "A Tunnel's Second Act". Marin Magazine. Archived from the original on July 18, 2024. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
- ^ a b c Prado, Mark (March 18, 2015). "Puerto Suello Hill Tunnel for commute rail delayed". Marin Independent Journal. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
- ^ "Marin History Watch: San Rafael railroad tunnel collapse". Archived from the original on July 18, 2024. Retrieved June 20, 2017.