Nelson: Trains vs. Beaches – Part IV – What about Military Use?

The Orange County Transportation Authority is poised to drop an estimated $200 million in riprap boulders – scientifically known to cause beach depletion – on San Clemente beaches to keep trains running, no matter what the cost in taxpayer dollars or environmental damage. Assumed military demand for freight transport on the 66-mile San Diego Segment (San Diego to San Juan Capistrano) of the 351-mile LOSSAN train Corridor is often employed as a justification for keeping the Segment’s tracks operational. Given Camp Pendleton on the north coast of San Diego, the Naval Bases at San Diego and Coronado and the Marine Corps Air Station at Miramar, national defense could seem to be a logical argument. But is it?

To understand the military’s use better, instead of accepting conventional hyperbole, Capo Cares Zoomed and exchanged emails with Dan Zedack, Chief, Railroads for National Defense; Transportation Engineering Agency (TEA); US Army Military Surface Deployment & Distribution Command. According to Mr. Zedack:

…the DOD does not own, operate or construct commercial rail lines. We rely heavily on transportation stakeholders (federal regulators, state DOTs, local planning organizations, private railroads, etc.) and policy makers to keep STRACNET and the national freight rail network in good order. The DOD does not lobby for funding of specific rail projects but will provide verification or information on the defense equities of STRACNET identified rail lines or defense rail requirements…

Transport of military equipment is so important that much of it is entrusted to private contractors like BNSF, which carries other freight on the San Diego Segment. As well, according to Mr. Zedack, the responsibility for a derailed train falls entirely on the contractor.

The Command views trains and tracks as connectors between equipment depots (that can be in the middle of the country) and 18 ports that voluntarily agree to maintain certain services and provide access to the military in the event it is needed. Perhaps to stress the importance of the Seaports and to encourage them to remain in the network, TEA’s own marketing says, “Strategic Seaports are vital nodes in the Nation’s transportation network and play a critical role in DoD’s ability to deploy forces and equipment…” However, if a port chooses to no longer participate in the Strategic Seaport Program, it simply drops out, as the Port of New York did in the last decade. 

When the military refers to the Strategic Seaport Program’s resilience, it is in part referring to the redundancy in the network. Besides the eighteen ports, it also has an additional 6 military strategic seaports, 13 alternate seaports and one “alternate military seaport.” For example, the west coast has five ports in the Strategic Seaport Program, including the Port of Long Beach, but the Port of Los Angeles, close to the Port of Long Beach, is an alternate. 

The Command keeps an eye on whether a rail line is in danger of abandonment; however, it does so in part by checking a database that describes whether freight is running, delayed or stopped. Hence, for example, it’s less aware of repeated bluff failures along the San Diego Segment because of how quickly the train interests get freight running again. Even if the rails are deemed unsafe for passenger traffic for long stretches due to active landslides, freight mostly keeps running except when debris is on the tracks or crews are working. 

According to officials, between 2013-2023 the military sent a total of 278,000 tons of equipment to or from the Port of San Diego. As a Marine base, Camp Pendleton doesn’t use as much heavy equipment as the Army; for the same 10-year period, Pendleton engaged in a shipment of only 24,000 tons either to or from the base. Pendleton’s requirement, according to Zedack, is up to 100 of the 30,000 train carloads BNSF annually runs along the coast, the majority of which are shipped north. Across the decade, according to Railroads for National Defense officials, military use was at most once to several times per year. In contrast, The port of Long Beach has had very limited shipments of DOD rail cargo in the last decade…The DOD weighs the availability of militarily-useful infrastructure, availability of labor, and cost among other factors. The ports weigh the expected income from DOD movements vs. what other customers may pay for use of the same infrastructure among other factors.

During peacetime, after required features are met, the cost of transportation is a significant factor as are operational considerations in shipping decisions.

The key to a resilient network is that if one part goes missing, the rest of the network picks up the slack. Across the Strategic Seaport network, providing military freight by rail to the Port of San Diego could be uniquely vulnerable given collapsing bluffs in Del Mar, bluff slides and ocean encroachment in San Clemente, and the single line of domestic tracks. Yet, based on national policy, no particular segment of tracks is vital or essential enough that the military would intervene to maintain the tracks, which should tell everyone exactly how important the San Diego Segment is for national defense.  

Freight traffic on the LOSSAN Corridor, in fact, passes reasonably close to the Strategic Seaport of Long Beach. If for some reason the San Diego Segment were shut down, as it has been for months at a time when landslides hit the tracks in San Clemente, Zedack indicated they would use an alternate port. Military freight transport from almost anywhere to the Port of Long Beach would actually travel less distance than transport to the Port of San Diego. It is true that ships would then have to relocate to meet it.

In short, while the San Diego Segment is a desirable resource for military use, it is a preference, or a cost-effective choice, not a necessity. It is possible for the military to deliver freight quickly – potentially even more quickly, though perhaps at a greater cost – using other ports. It would be possible for the military to deliver freight to San Diego or the bases and Air Station via highway as well, although some equipment is overly wide or heavy and requires specialized trucks. 

In fact, in an October 7, 2022 LAist news article, “a spokesperson for Camp Pendleton wrote in an email that the rail closure has ‘little to no impact’ on the base since most of the military equipment moves in and out of the base by commercial tractor trailer.” This should be a relief to anyone anticipating that a bluff slide or erosion could easily shut down the entire line — as has happened repeatedly in the last three years — and have a serious impact on national defense. 

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