SAN DIEGO -- The Metropolitan Transit District Board is set to sign off on a contract Thursday which could reopen San Diego's railroad link to the east, and with it a potential economic bonanza, 10News reported.

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Train Could Be Running In A Year

The project has been more than 20 years in the making, and will open up a line running from San Diego, through Mexico, to El Centro that was built in the early 1900s.

John D. Spreckles was the visionary behind the effort to get the line built, but it fell into disrepair when vandals destroyed several tunnels, and economics and politics kept it closed.

The last freight train on the line was in 1982. The last passenger train to run all the way through from San Diego to El Centro was in 1951. But Geoff Schreuman, of the Carrizo Gorge Railway Co., told 10News that he hopes to have both back in about a year's time.

He said that the MTDB is set to award a contract to Carrizo and when that happens, "basically it means we have a green light to start working on this line and open it back up."

It'll take about $2 million to repair the tunnels, and another $20 million to get the line operational, but Schreuman said that customers like U.S. Gypsum in Imperial Valley are eager to come on board.

"They're looking to ship plasterboard out through the port of San Diego and bulk products in hopper cars. So that's something they're very interested in seeing as they're beating up their trucks doing that now. They'd like to see it because it's economically viable to bring it out by train," Schreuman said.

The train will be a treat for passengers, too. A ride through the gorge is nothing short of spectacular, according to 10News reporter Bob Lawrence.

Carrizo already has the contract for the Mexican side of the operation.