the pacific railroad act passed by the united states congress in 1862 authorized construction of the first transcontinental railroad and telegraph line, which included connecting the central pacific railroad in the west with the union pacific railroad in the east. in 1863, the first construction activity took the central pacific line eastward from sacramento. in october 1864, the central pacific railroad assigned all the rights of the pacific railway acts of 1862 and 1864 to the western pacific railroad for the route between sacramento and san jose, including land grants. the plan was that the transcontinental railroad would follow the western pacific to san jose and then connect with the san francisco and san jose railroad (sf&sj), completed in 1864, to san francisco.