There is very little Oakland traffic heading to/from Southern California that would benefit from opening that route. Running intermodal to/from the east via that routing doesn't make much sense as it adds mileage while still clogging up the Cal-P and still getting in the way of growing passenger traffic.

The Niles Canyon option discussed below is part of a very expensive bigger picture multi-agency dream that would preserve UP's capacity while getting freights off the Centerville and putting Capitols on the WP south of Hayward.