The post below mentioned about regulatory stuff on trying to build between Gerber to Eureka, here's a list that someone emailed me if the Transcon were to be built in today's world. Think they may have seen the list in Trains mag recently.

How long would it take today?

If you built a transcontinental railway today from scratch, how long would it take, given the regulatory enviroment of the modern world?

Nobody knows for sure, but the best guess is about 57 years. Here's a peek at how it might just play out in headlines:

1 January 2019
Trump proposed the transcontinental railroad.

2 January 2019
Federal court enjoins rail plan.

12 December 2022
Supreme Court OKs new railroad.

16 January 2023
Environmental study will take 10 years.

30 July 2030
Environmental Study raises emissions concerns.

1 August 2033
EPA moves against rail line, citing emissions.

13 February 2040
President Nazgul proposes electrification of new railroad

14 June 2044
Electrification financing collapses.

2 March 2054
GOP Congress: No federal money for the new rail line.

2 March 2056
Domocratic Congress: No federal money for the new rail line.

17 August 2060
President Jenna Bush declares new railroad dead as a duck.

24 November 2062
China will finance transcontinental railroad.

30 April 2064
Finally! Railroad groundbreaking!

1 May 2065
EPA sues to stop construction.

31 October 2066
Congress abolishes EPA.

1 November 2066
Construction resumes.

2 November 2067
Sierra Club sues to stop new rail line.

24 July 2068
Sierra Club settlement truncates railroad at Reno, Nevada.

10 June 2071
Bald eagle next stops construction.

20 April 2074
Eagle next mysteriously destroyed by fire.

21 February 2075
Last Interstate highway crumbles.

8 May 2078
Transcontinental railroad completed in Utah.