OK, I'll take the bait.

Facts:

The former Monterey branch would have to be completely rebuilt from Castroville to Sand City or Monterey.

Service COULD be extended to Fisherman's Wharf, but it would take years to get it through politically.

There are not a lot of commuters to the Bay Area who live on the peninsula, So this only makes sense if the route attracted vacationers from the Bay Area.

Those vacationers wouldn't be interested unless the travel time was less than driving, Which means that the entire route would have to be upgraded to at least 100MPH standards.

So, it makes no economic sense todo this.

Now, onto TAMC's grand plan for light rail from Castroville to Monterey (http://www.tamcmonterey.org/programs/rail/montereyline.html): Looks pretty, doesn't it? But is there enough potential business on the route to justify the cost? No. A senior manager of Monterey-Salinas Transit, the designated operator once it's built, told me privately that they'd be happy to get the contract, as long as TAMC paid them for doing it 100%, but there were no facts to support the contention that there would be enough traffic to actually run trains.

Again, just a dream, and a total waste of money on TAMC's part. At best, they have a route, that with an expensive upgrade, could have tourist or dinner trains, maybe even contracting with Iowa Pacific's Santa Cruz & Monterey Bay Railway to run them between the Sand City Costco and Santa Cruz, IF they could get the UP to agree. Or they could also partner with Santa Cruz, Big Trees and Pacific Railway and run trains between the Sand City and Santa Cruz Costcos. ;)