But what does the Central Valley have to do with linking the two California cities, both of which are on the Pacific coast far away from the likes of Bakersfield and Fresno? There already exists a rail link between LA and San Francisco, but it is the slow-moving Amtrak that must make its way through the Coastal Range that runs down the western part of the state. (An aspiring rail rider would board a CalTrans train from San Francisco to San Jose, then hop aboard Amtrak’s Coast Starlight there as it passes through once a day).
