As a practical matter the price being paid for the branch is about what 5 miles of sound walls along a freeway (both sides) would cost, or an interchange update (rearranging ramps and adding turn lanes, and widening the local road by a lane or so). Even if you double the price to account for upgrades and repairs for modest (dinner train...) passenger service it sounds like a fairly decent deal especially if it allows Sierra Northern to develop some more freight service too (take a few trucks off the road - very few but as noted elsewhere even removing a few helps keep the road together longer). At least this is a working RR now, not an NWP attempting to become one. The price is less than a million$/mile and among other things allows the County to promote the cement plant site as something with rail access if it wants to (sort of green). I've seen many questionable redevelopment projects cost more.