Sgt. Joe Friday Wrote:
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> Believe BOB2 has weighed in on this before.
>
> AFAIK there is little freight traffic these days
> on the Coast Line. The only reason I can think of
> as to why UP holds on to it is for redundant
> capacity in case some natural disaster takes out
> the line over Tehachapi Pass. After the 1952 Kern
> County earthquake, I think the route over the pass
> was out of service for a month or so.


This is correct. UP will never give up the Santa Barbara and Coast Subdivisions for 2 reasons. 1, it is an alternative route to the Mojave and Fresno Subdivisions if they are ever blocked for any reason and length of time. 2, UP doesn't want to give up Control or see another Railroad such as BNSF get it and run through trains on it, among other things.