Bakersfield to Merced? It makes absolutely no sense at all.
Sure I know it was supposed to be something else; and they hope it will become something more in the future. But that’s going to be another problem for another day.
Would be better to expand the highways to accommodate for future autonomous vehicles - electric or otherwise. Commuter trains will be obsolete when the day that autonomous vehicles can take passengers point to point arrives and that day may be closer than the day they connect LA to SF via train.