Puerto Suello Hill Tunnel
California rail tunnel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
| Puerto Suello Tunnel | |
|---|---|
The north portal of the tunnel in December 2019 | |
 Interactive map of Puerto Suello Tunnel | |
| Overview | |
| Location | San Rafael, California |
| Coordinates | 37°59′21″N 122°31′45″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 |
Background
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
Media related to Puerto Suello Hill Tunnel at Wikimedia Commons
