Sadly I tend to agree about the de-ruralizing of the area. The environment that California has established for business in this state will pretty much accelerate the process. The problem is the reality that , without something for the residents to do to generate income ,there will be no people living here. The environmental interests and the BANANA's and their lawyers are bound and determined to blindly accelerate the trend. There are environmental and economic benefits to rail that they conveniently ignore purely to resist change. A freight train can haul a magnitude more freight on less fuel than the number of trucks needed to haul the same amount. The noise and delay to auto traffic are both transient and avoidable with a minimum of change to infrastructure.
The tax base that industry the railroad and the people that are employed in said industry are the life blood that the cash starved communities in California are desperate for. Without it, implosion is the only outcome that can be looked forward to. The railroad is the most economical,environmentally friendly , durable and dependable answer to the growth that this state needs.