If I had used a link I was afraid the Altamont user would have been dumped into a long "item" with lots of comments and gotten lost. The format did certainly get thoroughly screwed up in the cut and paste.

I dumbly spend a lot of retirement time on the hsr site plugging the Tejon alternative to the Tehachapi-Palmdale detour and getting regularly flamed for my efforts. I just can't see gold-plating the Loop upgrade; if you are prepared to spend a fortune I think you should blow it on the best route, which is Tejon. Now if they were to make the under-Loop line Amtrak long-haul compatible so that we could restore the San Francisco Chief I could get behind that.