This far-fetched scenario does raise some interesting questions, though. What's traffic density in Feather River and on Donner these days? What's current Bay Area port capacity? What are projections for container growth? Port of Tacoma has bought up over 1,000 acres of tidelands for future container shipping growth. Legislators in both Washingtons are trying to secure $25 mil to expand size of Stampede Pass Tunnel to carry containers, because Stevens Pass is so plugged. The state Legislature recently extended the ability of Washington State DOT to convert the former Milwaukee line from Ellensburg to Lind, Wa back to rail. Price Rupert is building a large container port.

At some point, barring a significant world economic collapse, existing ports and rail corridors will max out in shipping capacity. Then, where do you add new lines? Sure, Donner can be double-tracked again, but does UP do that all the way to Winnemucca? How does BNSF solve the "Funnel" capacity problem?

Interesting to speculate on...