Spend $5 billion to access the Valley with a new Altamont "long tunnel", and rebuilding the Dumbarton bridge and double track it. And, I would even look at the possibility of a privately financed "dual use" "rail/highway" bridge as the South Bay could also use more cross bay road capacity financed through a toll franchise that pays for itself.

This would allow "local" ACE, IC San Joaquins, and whatever express "HSR" services, that we actually need and that we can afford to build, to connect to the Bay Area in the next 50 or 60 years (at the current rate of progress and budget availability). This would allow us to salvage the connection to the current fiasco and actually get people on trains in ten years. This Altamont Dumbarton alternative could/would allow to access both the East Bay connections to San Jose, and to the Peninsula connection,n both north to SFO and the City and south to Santa Clara and San Jose.

Of course, that idea could/would save the poor beleaguered CA taxpayer about $19 to $25 billion over the incredibly costly Pacheco Pass insanity now proposed. So there's no possibility that this will ever be considered, as we continue with CHSRA's "faith based" HSR Plan, the motto of which is apparently "build it and they will come", only in the contractors version, they spell that last word with a u instead of an o, and there is no e on the end.