There is, if I heard correctly, a Cajon Study, possibly being pushed by San Bernardino County to look at service over Cajon. but like service to Palm Springs, would almost certainly require a new set of tracks and new tunnels for either conventional or high speed service. And, so we are talking like the $500+ for Beaumont (no tunnels), we are talking probably talking at least a few billion.

High Desert Corridor comes with a "free" ROW connecting to the real "end market" in the LA basin, designed into the grade separated "interstate quality" toll road for the HSR, and connects to an existing passenger line, and to other "future" connecting improvements, like when CHSRA gets there in 2125.

In the meanwhile, we in SouCal will be perfectly happy to have the CHSRA (or a private sector toll road franchisee???) pay to build that "evil base tunnel" (possibly as shared use road and rail set of double tunnels) and improve the line to Palmdale, so we might be able give our SouCal taxpayers some real benefits, in this century, while we wait.