The system route would be engineered to be part of a future electric railway along the American River corridor from Sacramento/Placerville, which would run on to Carson Valley & Reno, NV. The railway would junction near Strawberry Lodge, with the Lake Tahoe Line running thru a five-mile tunnel to the Tahoe Valley floor, with the main passenger/freight route using a 15+ mile bore to access the Carson Valley near Genoa, NV. This is compatible with existing demographics, not to mention projected growth.

The intercity railway will gain momentum with the inexorable constricting of surface transport with the onset of peaking oil, and the necessity to move more freight trans-Sierra via rail, as well as the growth in passenger numbers. The existing Sierra rail crossings will be inadequate to meet the growth in traffic, and are slow running as well. The 1869 & 1909 rail line capacity will be severely strained as the effects of oil depletion take hold, and shall prove inadequate; hence the US50/American River (HydroPower at hand) rail crossing is requisite.

The above is a specific case of a generic rail concept; the desireability of linking a priority rail corridor with renewables generated power source. The power will be enroute, or remotely generated wind or solar power, dedicated to electric railway traction.

The decisions of allocation of energy will leave the political, and enter the realm of strategic imperative: maintaining national cohesion as the emergency becomes apparent. The luxuries of just in time stocking and employment will refocus on the need to maintain regional integrity and sustainability. Morale and practicability will merge with creation of a new Funding program for the new Energy/Transport Paradigm: ENERGY INDEPENDENCE Bonds- modelled after the War Bonds of the WWII period.

Parties not too constrained by bureacratic ties are welcomed to pursue these concepts, particularly the EI Bond idea, and bring issue into the public consciousness via the equities market, perhaps. The generic rail/renewables concept should be in the purview of local planners, persons with the hindsight to revisit locations of local warehousing, where rail/trucking once interfaced.

I can be reached for comment; the above speaks for itself.

Gunnar Henrioulle,Tahoe Valley Lines,CA 96158(530.543.1259)