Bill, the now undermined Thomas Creek Bridge is located in the northern Sacramento Valley between Corning and Tehama. This is the former SP West Valley Line now operated by the California Northern. Prior to 1981 the Amtrak Coast Starlight was routed this way as well as most of the pre 1971 Oregon bound big SP passenger fleet. As I understand it, this is the only current blockage to making that West Valley Line a thru route.

If the SP West Valley Line were rebuilt you would still need to install CTC and frequent passing sidings. In Addition opening the West Valley would only solve HALF of your current problem. This is because you would still be routed south to Roseville down the now totally jammed (SINGLE-TRACK) SP Valley Sub below Marysville. The former Modoc Line property is and was so very, very valuable for detour moves such as the current outage. Continuing north off of the West Valley you would head for Dunsmuir and Klamath Falls where you would turn east and head for Alturas and Northern Nevada (Winnemucca area). CTC and good sidings would need to be installed to keep Modoc Line traffic fluid. The Modoc would certainly be worth its weight in gold now to the railroads.
This may be a rather circuitous route that would in combination with a Tehachapi detour keep a bunch of traffic moving.
That is my thoughts about how more traffic might be kept moving during this western crisis on the UPRR.

Bill Davidson Wrote:
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> Where is the Thomas Creek Bridge? What are
> TWO's?
>
> Thanks,
> Bill