As long as we are thinking about the Grapevine, how about examining another feature of the system, the 2 hr 36 min proposed timetable. This is the fastest train in the universe! By comparison, the train from Paris to Strasbourg, 280 miles, takes 2 hr 17 min, while the California train will go 435 miles in 2:36, or 19 minutes more for an addtional 150 miles.

The French train goes like blue blazes across the plains of eastern France, but it then has to climb the Vosges mountains (not as high as the Tehachapi, but mountains nonetheless) and over the mountains it slows down to a mere 140 kph. The California train is scheduled to go 170 mph from Palmdale to Sylmar; what if we slowed it down to a mere 140 kph? Would it then be feasible to run it over the Grapevine? Grades could be steeper and tunnels fewer.

But, you say, if we slow it down, it will never get to LA in 2hr 36 min. To which the reply is, so? It doesn't seem to bother the French.