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Anyway, look at CHSRA's latest business plan, which calls for letting diesel San Joaquins use their tracks until CHSRA has built the Pacheco tunnels and can pay for catenary + trainsets. Even if Republicans were to somehow take over Sacramento, I'd just expect them to water down CAHSR into better SJ service while the fights come down to tunnels and wires. Which, given how Metrolink is at least tabling future electrification now (in their most recent business plan) indicates to me that the GOP will just give in on this even if they do it in their own stupid way.
The most telling vector will be if the newly formed Tri-Valley San Joaquin Valley Regional Rail Authority chooses full-size EMUs and ACE as an operator. In that case ACE goes under wire between Stockton and Livemore, which with the Capitol Corridor's move to the Coast Subdivision makes the prospect of doing wire all the way to SJ plausible. At this point wire would only have to go up between Stockton and Merced for a CAHSR Phase 1 system. Bonus if a Dumbarton rebuild is done as well. Failing that, CHSRA would have to focus on building the Pacheco tunnels sooner rather than later and then making sure they can take diesels. Either way, the norcal sections are going to get built.
