Actually, it could have happened years earlier than it did, to everyone's benefit - BUT NOOOO!

I never heard the price the JPB finally ended up paying for the peninsula line (moved away). But as far back as the mid seventies, SP publicly offered to sell the line lock stock and barrel to the then brand new BART. Their opening offer was roughly 4 million a mile.

But BART's GM at the time, Bill Stokes, publicly laughed in their faces claiming it was a ridiculously exorbitant offer for a "junk railroad not worthy of attention". He arrogantly refused to take it seriously at all.

The opening offer of four million per mile was indeed high for the time; especially for a commercial enterprise bringing less than zero down to net. But contrary to Stokes narrow-minded provincialism, it was for a railroad property that was in fact functioning rather well; and punctually; vs the nearly 20 million per mile spent on BART at the time, which could not even dare to publish a schedule in those days, because it ran so poorly.

Hmmm - Compared to that, 4 mil per mile would have still been a bargain. I always wondered what the hell Stokes was thinking! He should have taken the offer seriously - At least seriously enough to make a low ball counter offer (after all - SP was desperate), and lead the charge to get it funded. Instead, he rudely put down and dismissed the SP brass without so much as a second thought - at least according to SF newspapers.