You do not need to do a lot of destination studies, etc. to see what route the majority of surface travelers use to go between SF and LA. It is Altamont, I-5, and Tejon. No matter what southern mountain crossing ultimately chosen it is not going to be accomplished with Amtrak level costs; it is going to be expensive. But vastly more direct following the established default route translates to faster and cheaper. Of course that means taking on the Ranch and Palmdale.

In the north Pacheco will be very expensive, well beyond Amtrak level costs. Altamont is superior throughout and money spent there is well spent as it opens up the fast route to Sac as well as LA.

There again it is a political issue - you have to take on San Jose and the SVLG.

Gavin does not have the stones for revisiting the routing, so expect more of fumbling stasis with more of Tutor & friends milking the system. Blowing most all of the public transport budget on CAHSR won't save it from innate mediocrity and dysfunction. Look at poorly conceived BART, which hoovers up most of the Bay Area transit funding. And always will.