San Diego, CA
Stop on the proposed 17,000-mile maglev network. Next stop: Chula Vista, CA (7.1 mi).
About San Diego
San Diego is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, next to the Mexican border. It is the eighth-most populous city in the U.S. and second-most populous city in California with a population of over 1.4 million, while the San Diego area with over 3.3 million residents is the 18th-largest metropolitan area in the country. San Diego is the county seat of San Diego County.
Source: Wikipedia summary (full article). Population and facts as published there.
Cost breakdown (proposal-scale estimates — see math)
| Item | Basis | Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal construction | Large-city terminal ($2–4B range) | $3.0B |
| Land acquisition | Regional factor 1.5× on $200M base | $300M |
| Track: San Diego → Chula Vista | 7.1 mi × $500M/mi | $3.5B |
| Annual operations (share) | 2% of $3.0B terminal | $60M/yr |
| Stop total (excl. annual ops) | $6.8B |
Best terminal location (proposed)
The Santa Fe Depot district. Santa Fe Depot is the southern terminus of the Pacific Surfliner and the Coaster, with the Trolley's Green and Orange lines at its doorstep. The surrounding depot district and surface lots give a buildable footprint right at the waterfront. Downtown San Diego's jobs, the airport, and the border corridor all sit within a few miles.
Before / after
Aerial mock-up (illustrative, not an engineering rendering). Left: the proposed site today. Right: with the maglev terminal.
- National City — industrial waterfront city just south of downtown, with its own Trolley stop.
- Barrio Logan — shipyard-adjacent San Diego neighborhood on the Blue Line corridor.
- Paradise Hills — South San Diego residential neighborhood along the corridor.