San Diego Trolley (SDMTS) Light Rail / Tram

This film shows the light rail system of San Diego, California, which is simply known as “San Diego Trolley.”

The system consists of three lines (Blue, Orange and Green) that run through downtown San Diego in a loop, but reach quite far into the suburbs. The Blue line actually terminates in San Ysidro, which is directly by the Mexican border.

The fleet consists mostly of SD100 and (newer) S70 light rail vehicles manufactured by Siemens. But there are also some older U2 type vehicles from Düwag in operation. Note that quite interestingly, these are of the same class as the ones used in Frankfurt/Main, Germany. There is also a historic PCC streetcar operating along the downtown loop during the day as a tourist attraction.

Most of this film is shot around the downtown area. Being typical for a U.S. city, the streets in downtown are not very lively (even though I filmed this on a weekday). Toward the end we see some scenes in San Ysidro before the film concludes at Beyer Boulevard station of the Blue line.

Index to the film:

0:00 – 12th & Imperial Transit Center
2:23 – 12th Ave & K St (Yes, street names have single letter names. Beautiful, isn't it?)
3:10 – 12th Ave & J St
4:07 – Park & Market Station
5:04 – 12th & G St
5:47 – City College Station
7:18 – C St & 8th Ave
8:06 – Civic Center Station
9:57 – America Plaza Station (the Blue line ends here)
12:03 – Siemens SD100 Ride from County Center/Little Italy Station to Santa Fe Depot Station (notice the English and Spanish announcements)
13:05 – Santa Fe Depot Station (the Orange line ends here)
14:04 – West Ash Street (ding ding ding ding…)
14:33 – County Center/Little Italy Station
14:56 – The Little Italy district is actually very close to the airport!
15:20 – Convention Center Station
15:59 – Gaslamp Quarter Station
16:54 – 12th & Imperial (once more). Spot the U2 train!
19:22 – San Ysidro Transit Center (the Blue line ends here)
21:02 – Beyer Boulevard Station

Enjoy!

[padraigmullen]

The San Diego buses, Coaster, Sprinters in North County, and of course, the trolley, have been a part of my life for years. Even when Ive had wheels, sometimes I used public transit to save money. Now in Tonasket, WA I'm watching this with pangs of nostalgia.

[danielrbsutton]

When speaking about America's lack of trains, when compared to Europe, people often say that the country is so vast, with such great distances between different areas, that trains are impractical. I could not disagree more. The fastest trains can approach the speeds of aircraft, being around 400 mph, so that argument does not make much sense. Trains are also a lot more energy efficient, since they can plug right into the power grid, dramatically reducing emissions, and other fossil-fuel related issues

I really appreciate how clean, quiet, and fast the San Diego Trolley is, and I like the retro look of the green trains. I wish American cities would go back to trolleys and light rail. I live in New York City, NYC had many trolleys before they were replaced by buses, but we do still have a very extensive subway system, and lots of commuter rail, as well as intercity rail. The Northeast Corridor runs right through the middle of NYC, which is the busiest rail corridor in the US

[paula.m.]

I live in Montana now but grew up in San Diego. I miss it everyday. I wan't to move back as soon as I'm done with school. At this point I'm even thinking of transferring to a University in San Diego. Feeling so homesick right now.

[tinadaugherty]

Lived in San Deigo 2011-2013 and greatly enjoyed the memories of seeing San Deigo again. Thank you!!

[trenomanis]

Είστε φοβεροί, είστε καταπληκτικοί! Για αυτό ακριβώς πρέπει να μας βοηθήσετε κι εμάς στην Ελλάδα να βελτιώσουμε τα δίκτυα των Light Rails όπου υπάρχουν και να επαναφέρουμε εκείνα τα οποία καταργήθηκαν...

[TheGraceLifeVlog]

Sweet memories. I can now come here to view it when am missing SD. Hope to be back.

[surflinerfan]

9:30 The motorist made the peace sign with both of his hands while driving.
LMAO

[mbta]

It rocks, especially the Green Line through Mission Valley, bridges, side of the hill running, curves, grades and a tunnel.

[nathancorcoran]

These are amazing San Diego trolley trains in San Diego. And great video too.

[pollyannapositive]

This brings me back to San Diego memory.

[Robotechnology]

I like seeing the PCC car in operation in a real world setting. I volunteer at a railway museum in Perris California that has several old PCC cars four of them are from the Los Angeles Railway and two from the San Diego Railway. One of the San Diego PCC cars is in the process of restoration and two of the four LARy PCC cars are in active operation at the museum.

[noob.]

San Diego's rolling stock looks a lot better than LA's. The color also makes it feel a lot newer.

[dynasty]

There are so many changes now even though this video is not that old. No more U2's, the Blue Line stations have finished renovating, and the Mid-Coast extension is currently under construction.

[darladoxstater]

I got to take a weekend overnight trip to San Diego with LARail, on their Pacific Sands Pullman car. Spent quite a bit of time riding all the trolley lines. It was a fun way to see the sites.

[TheGraceLifeVlog]

Loved that you labelled the stations. Thanks

[ApertureWx]

I know this was 9 years ago or so.. but what are those bells at 14:15 - 14:33 ?

[david_sdiego]

Brilliant idea running these trains through the most congested areas of downtown creating a traffic fiasco. Get them elevated!

[officeaddict]

These look so much better than our Green Line trains here in Boston which are also streetcars.

[christopherorourke]

Great video of the San Diego Trolley in Civilized San Diego. I will be riding the San Diego Trolley again in the future on a planned visit back home to the San Diego area. The San Diego Metropolitian area is the very best Metropolitian area that I have ever lived in in my entire life. Nice to see the PCC trolley cars running in San Diego, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco & Newark, New Jersey in the nations most hated state.

[lawrencekeesler]

Excellent photography and sound recording!