This seems like a lot of money to spend in a study, however maybe it would be a casino route for some in DFW
Amtrak and TxDOT to study new service from SHV to DFWShreveport Times
MARSHALL, Texas –Amtrak and the Texas Department of Transportation agreed on the scope of a $745000 feasibility study today for new Amtrak service between Shreveport-Bossier City following the Interstate 20 corridor to Dallas and Fort Worth.
Question 1: Will UP ever agree to host passenger trains on its line?
Question 2: How is this corridor-service higher in priority than Dallas-Houston or Dallas-Austin-San Antonio corridor service?
Question 3: How does state of Texas come up with so much money to do all these feasibility studies only to eventually shelve the plans?
The answer to question 2 is simple. People will actually ride it. Going to the casino is a leisure activity. People like our slower LD trains when taking leisure trips. People don't like our slower LD trains when they need to get somewhere for business or when time is even a minor factor. The amount of people that go to the LA casinos from DFW is huge. Another factor is that the people like to drink while on these casino excursions. This way, they can drink legally enroute and the trip home would be safer for everyone. Anyone that has been to a casino knows how they like to get people liquored up. Another plus is that it will keep people from going to WinStar Casino, north of the border. WinStar is not a real casino. Few table games and they make you pay an ante for blackjack. Honestly, who does that? But that is another story.
I wouldn't be surprised if this train was regularly sold out if it exists one day. But this train has been talked about for decades so I will believe it when I see it. On a side note, where would they get the equipment? From my understanding, there isn't a lot of extra passenger cars laying around.
Ok, I have lived in Texas for only eight months now and didn't know about this going-to-LA-for-casino tradition (why didn't anyone tell me about it?
) So if this proposed train is mainly going to cater to leisure traffic, as opposed to a real corridor-style business traffic, it might be worth it to persuade the casinos in Shreveport to chip in for the train service, something like how the Atlantic City Express Service (
ACES train) runs from New York to Atlantic City. This way you dont have to worry about how will Amtrak provide equipment. The casino guys can arrange for whatever kind of swanky crazy type of trainset as they desire!