The North County Transit District is poised to “railroad” downtown San Diego with a reportedly unnecessary new Coaster platform stop in front of the San Diego Convention Center.
Construction on the new convention center station is tentatively scheduled to begin in spring of 2026. It will take 18 months to complete, according to the NCTD, which oversees Coaster commuter train service.
The designated spot for an 850-foot platform in the heart of downtown is a grassy island along Harbor Drive between First and Fifth Avenues.
A plan to add a commuter rail train platform south of the current Santa Fe Depot terminus stop has been kicking around for more than a decade.
In 2015, the Coaster platform proposal got a thumbs-down from the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. An MTS report labeled a new Coaster stop “unnecessary” and “redundant without significant value.”
In addition, MTS cautioned that adding Coaster service in this corridor in downtown San Diego would have “negative safety, air quality, traffic and noise impacts.”
NCTD Chief of Staff Mary Dover told The San Diego Sun a new Coaster stop will bring a long-awaited “one-seat-ride” from Oceanside to the Gaslamp Quarter and to San Diego Padres games at Petco Park in East Village.
“It will improve service and make it a much more convenient trip from North County to downtown, past the Santa Fe Depot,” Dover said.
NCTD made a deal with railroad freight operator Burlington Northern Santa Fe to allow the Coaster extension, Dover said. BNSF owns a federal right of way to the heavy-duty track used by the Coaster. That meant no public comment and no California Environmental Quality Act study was required for this project. It got a statutory exemption because the tracks being used were already in existence.
The estimated $33-million cost is being funded by a California Transportation Commission grant received by NCTD. San Diego taxpayers are not on the line for the project. The city of San Diego has no jurisdiction, save for some permitting issues.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria supports efforts to improve connectivity but stopped short of endorsing the plan.
“The Mayor supports efforts to enhance neighborhood connectivity and access to transit, making it easier for San Diegans to travel from points across our county to San Diego’s iconic destinations,” a spokesperson said. “…the mayor is engaged in any issues that arise.”
The Downtown San Diego Partnership, which has a mission to foster an economically prosperous and culturally vibrant downtown, offered conditional support.
“Downtown residents, businesses and property owners are very interested in how operations and safety will be managed in our dense, mixed-use urban core…” DSDP Vice President of Government Affairs Justine Murray said. “This project has the potential to benefit residents, workers, and visitors, while also preserving the existing downtown train Quiet Zone, which plays a vital role in ensuring safety and maintaining quality of life in our community.”
There are eight stops on the 41-mile Coaster line that runs from Oceanside in San Diego’s North County to the Santa Fe Depot. A one-way trip takes about 40 minutes.
It’s roughly one mile from the Santa Fe Depot to the proposed new Coaster platform in front of the convention center. Presently, downtown San Diego’s Green Line trolley serves commuters who arrive at the Santa Fe Depot and want to proceed to trolley stops near the convention center, Gaslamp Quarter or Petco Park.
Exiting the Coaster train at Santa Fe Depot and transferring to the trolley’s high-frequency Green Line is simple. For years, NCTD has promoted special runs of Coaster trains that serviced North County riders who wanted to take rail service to attend Padres games.
“Why would you add heavy-rail Coaster trains when light-rail trolley service already does the same thing?” downtown activist Janet Rogers asked. “There’s no real need for this and no new ridership is expected. It’s apparently for a few North County riders who don’t want to get off the Coaster at the Santa Fe Depot.”
Rogers, a downtown resident, knows her way around public agencies at the local, regional and national level. She was part of a group that fought for a Quiet Zone that mostly got freight trains passing through downtown to stop blowing whistles at all hours of the night. She also spearheaded Safe Walkways, a group that helped force e-scooters out of business in downtown San Diego.
The track extension could be a minor mixed blessing for Rogers, who lives near the Santa Fe Depot. She said Coasters idle for up to an hour at the station, waiting for passengers to board before heading north.
If the trains were idling in front of the convention center instead of the Santa Fe Depot, that’s be nice for me and my neighbors to not smell those emissions,” Rogers said. “But for downtown San Diego as a whole, there is absolutely no benefit to this plan.”
The MTS report said diesel emissions in the area would affect air quality for downtown residents, as well as individuals at the convention center or those walking along the Martin Luther King Promenade or using the New Children’s Museum or Children’s Park.
The negative safety impact of adding Coaster service to the heart of downtown are spelled out in the 2015 MTS report: “Heavy or commuter rail stations are in areas outside the busiest urban pedestrian corridors, or are grade separated, because these trains cannot stop quickly to avoid hitting pedestrians. The area around the convention center is extremely pedestrian and bicycle oriented and would lead to daily…conflicts despite any controls that may be required to be put in place.”
Per traffic and noise impacts, MTS reported the Coaster line extension could trigger almost four times as many loud bells and signal activations as is currently the case.
NCTD’s Dover counters that a plan to improve crossing gate technology will actually reduce congestion. She says new software will allow gates to safely close and open faster. The new technology would apply to any train approaching an intersection, including trolleys and freight trains.
A San Diego Convention Center Corporation spokesperson told The Sun it “supports public transit improvements that enhance connectivity…and initiatives that improve pedestrian safety when crossing the tracks to the Gaslamp Quarter, potentially including bridges or other measures.”
As a planning resource for clients and guests, the convention center has an advisory note about the platform extension on the Nearby Construction Projects page of its official website.
The head of a large-scale event management company is concerned that congestion in the area outside the convention center could be impacted by a new Coaster stop.
“From a corporate events standpoint, this sounds like a terrible idea,” PRA Business Events Managing Director Martin Davis said. “If you’re dealing with a large number of motor coaches, for example, it’s already tricky in that area.”
Davis doesn’t see convention attendees using the Coaster to get to events. And he said San Diego shouldn’t risk its national reputation in the convention industry as being easy to use.
“For 18 months of construction, and after the stop is added, it seems like this would add to congestion,” Davis said. “It doesn’t seem like the pros outweigh the cons.” SDSun
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was edited on 1/6/26 to note that San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria supports efforts to improve connectivity but stopped short of endorsing the Coaster plan.
