The NCRA will have to secure additional state and federal funding to repair the line from Windsor to Willits. They cannot afford this on their own. There are numerous washouts, bridge-outs, a collapsed tunnel and drainage and culvert issues that will cost far more than the $68 million to reopen the line from Lombard to Windsor.

On the bright side, the NCRA will not have to deal with Novato or SMART (except Windsor to Cloverdale). If they can get the "emergency repair funds" then complying with whatever environmental regulations there are shouldn't be an issue. It doesn't seem that the NCRA has violated or intends to violate any environmental laws and regulations so what gives with the lawsuit?

I think they are less likely to get the hundreds of millions of dollars they need to repair the rest of the route to Willits than they are to be stopped by lawsuits. Unlike on the south end where customers were known well in advance, what customers are there from Windsor to Willits? It seems like a lot of effort just to access a gravel pit at Island Mountain. Hell that is already nearly 3/4 of the way to Eureka!