"The Tehachapi Rail Improvement Project is anticipated to receive 50% of funding from the California Transportation Commission for freight transport improvement along the Tehachapi Trade Corridor."

So, if I'm reading this correctly, taxpayer dollars will be used and two private companies (UP and BNSF) will pretty much be the sole beneficiaries.

Maybe since we taxpayers are paying for so much of the infrastructure improvements, we should demand that one or two SAN JOAQUIN trains be extended from Bakersfield to LA. Or, maybe the time is right for a re-instatement of an overnight train running on a schedule similar to the OWL. The population of the San Joaquin Valley is growing and when the area gets socked in with tule fog at certain times of the year, passenger rail takes on a new attractiveness. I'm afraid any type of "bullet train" or HSR is still decades away, if we ever see it at all. There are still lots more studies and Environmental Impact Reports that need to be written.

I was under the impression that UP was not all that interested in accepting taxpayer dollars for infrastructure improvements if there were strings attached, such as running passenger trains. Recall the Donner Pass situation a few years ago. Apparently they've found a convenient "solution" to this dilemma by going ahead and accepting the taxpayer dollars, with a caveat that no passenger trains will be operated. In other words, "Hurry up and fork over the dough, and don't even ask us to run any of your dumb passenger trains."

Obviously, "The Octopus" is alive and well in 2011. Just ask John Galt!