A birdie told me that BNSF has recently landed a major shipping contract with Tesla. Autos will apparently be trucked from the plant in Fremont to BNSF's Richmond yard for transloading. The number was something like 500+ autos a day, with a dedicated train leaving Richmond daily. The plan is to convert what's left of the old Richmond intermodal yard into an auto ramp to support this business. There is also talk of rebuilding the tracks beyond the Point Richmond tunnel towards Ferry Point to simplify switching long cuts as well as adding additional railcar storage space.

Allegedly UP is stonewalling BNSF from directly accessing the Tesla plant, which is why BNSF isn't running directly there like they did in the old NUMMI days. I'm not sure of the details, but I hear it has something to do with Tesla flat out refusing to do business with UP.