The new general manager of the SD&IV, Dick Engle, persuaded local carriers to ship on this line and invited Mexican customers to start receiving shipments.

[citation needed] The effort was met with much skepticism and took place more than 10 years before the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement, that would increase cross-border shipping.

On August 1, 1986, the SD&IV entered into a multi-year agreement with the Mexican Government to provide freight service into Baja California.

In the early 2000s, investors calling themselves Carrizo Gorge Railway made an offer to make the needed repairs to the Desert Line and pay fees to the SD&IV and the MTDB in exchange for trackage rights.

By October 2008 the condition of the track had deteriorated to the point that the Carrizo Gorge Railway closed the Desert Line.

The Metropolitan Transit System (former MTDB) terminated the deal with Carrizo Gorge Railway in December 2012 and awarded new, long term operating agreement for the Desert Line to the Pacific Imperial Railroad.

[3] The Baja California Railroad purchased the rights to use the Desert Line in March 2017 with an agreement to pay the Metropolitan Transit System a million dollars per year to retain its lease.