I cannot see SMART converting its doodlebugs to electric operation - that was just PR. By the time any catenary were strung(many years ahead if ever)the Nippon Sharyu cars would be worn and of course there might be more wrecked. Better to peddle them off to another op, like ebart.

It will be decades likely for SMART to evolve much - the insiders who created it will have to literally pass from the scene. That is how politics work in California. Consider it took 50 years for BART to go to standard tapered wheel tyre profile - the Bechtelians had to die off.

And of course BART-MTC-ABAG sees SMART as a placeholder for Imperial Gauge. It is possible that this mindset might change over time. Quien sabe? But if not certainly that would mean that NCRA-NWP standard gauge freight would be in the way. If freight disappears soon that could indicate possibly that Mansourian et al might indeed have some bigger ideas in mind, like extending towards southern Marin. Remember that GGT bus service has over the decades never gotten beyond Santa Rosa. Dwindling patronage the farther from SF. Cloverdale originating business could prove very mediocre.