Barstow - Vegas

[VentureForth]

If Amtrak doesn't want to run to Las Vegas, I'm suprised that no one has offered to run a "MetroLink" type commuter consist to Vegas or maybe even an all-private venture.

If this is such a popular driving destination, why doesn't ANYone do it? Is the track so slow that it's not competitive?

 

[Anthony]

The Amtrak station and BNSF freight yard are too far from "downtown" to walk, so you'd be holed up there for quite a while if you attempted a connection from the early-morning SW Chief arrival to any sort of Vegas service.

 

[GG-1]

Aloha

VentureforthIf Amtrak doesn't want to run to Las Vegas, I'm suprised that no one has offered to run a "MetroLink" type commuter consist to Vegas or maybe even an all-private venture.

Not sure still true but for a while some kind of "endangered" desert turtle had taken up residence on/in the tracks. Additionaly since it was 3 Vegas IFEBP conventions, since I tried to take Amtrak from LA to Vegas, that makes over 15 years since use. What is the condition of the track?

AnthonyThe Amtrak station and BNSF freight yard are too far from "downtown" to walk,

When I first read this I thought Anthony meant in Los Vegas, were this was the station.

The actual platform/station was behind hotel. With his reference to the South West Chief he must mean LAX Union station

Hopefully a group is still working on High speed maglev service to connect SoCal to Vegas, but their web site is down, just an address to a placeholder still exists.

If I had the ability I would at least develop a connection from Vegas to the Chief in Albuquerque, or whichever train Serves Williams if that is closer.

 

[AlanB]

It's not a matter of Amtrak not wanting to run a train to Vegas. It's a matter of Amtrak can't start a new service unless someone else agrees that Amtrak won't incur any losses by running starting a new service. Couple that with UP's unwillingness to allow passenger service over their tracks to Vegas, and we continue to have no service in a place where it really makes sense to have service and it would probably be semi-sucessful. I'm not sure that it would be a money maker, but I would bet that it would come close to covering its operating expenses.

Amtrak and other partys had actually paid UP money to upgrade the tracks to Vegas a number of years ago. Then the NIMBY's seized upon the turtle to delay the start of the new service. By the time all the legal wrangling stopped and Amtrak had permission to run, UP had taken advantage of the already improved tracks and was running the line at capacity. So they wanted still more money to improve things further, before they would permit Amtrak to run trains.

Sadly Amtrak had no more money to fork over, so the project died.

 

[George Harris]

This is not really a commuter rail topic.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I remember reading somewhere that Nevada, Utah, and California were interested in helping to fund a reinstatement of the Desert Wind

 

[George Harris]

I remember reading somewhere that Nevada, Utah, and California were interested in helping to fund a reinstatement of the Desert Wind

See your own answer concerning politicians. The states are interested in looking like they are doing something. "Help fund" equals money. Not a chance. No favored contributor is getting anything from that.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

One can always hope. I have a motto: "Hope for the best, expect the worst, accept what happens."

 

[daniel3197]

Going just from Las Vegas NV to Barstow CA is too long of a haul for a commuter car.

Google Maps shows that distance to be 157 Miles and a drive time of 2 HOURS 17 minutes.

Bear in mind that the LA Basin is still a LONG way from Barstow and

you see why you need long distance equipment and services for this run.

The complete highway trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas NV is about 270 miles.

A 270 mile trip will take well over 4 hours to run especially on the very busy southern California rail system.

This is to demonstrate that the LA to Vegas run is a very LOOONG haul run that deserves

a lot more than commuter equpment which is designed for short 60 mile trip.

---- Daniel

 

[AlanB]

This is to demonstrate that the LA to Vegas run is a very LOOONG haul run that deserves a lot more than commuter equpment which is designed for short 60 mile trip.

While I won't deny that LA to Vegas deserves long haul equipment, not commuter equipment, I can't tell you how many commuter runs there are here on the East coast that run for well over an hour, many over two hours.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

This is to demonstrate that the LA to Vegas run is a very LOOONG haul run that deserves a lot more than commuter equpment which is designed for short 60 mile trip.

While I won't deny that LA to Vegas deserves long haul equipment, not commuter equipment, I can't tell you how many commuter runs there are here on the East coast that run for well over an hour, many over two hours.

Or even three, such as the Montauk/Oyster Point (forget the town name) LIRR commuters. But there is a difference. Montauk is just the starting point, most people get on an hour or so up the line and further in. The train leaves Montauk almost empty and arrives at Jamaica for its Manhattan transfer bursting full. The comfort of a Superliner, Talgo, or Amfleet would be wasted on 80% of the people on the train. On the other hand, LAX to Vegas would probably depart with high occupancy.

 

[AlanB]

Or even three, such as the Montauk/Oyster Point (forget the town name) LIRR commuters. But there is a difference. Montauk is just the starting point, most people get on an hour or so up the line and further in. The train leaves Montauk almost empty and arrives at Jamaica for its Manhattan transfer bursting full. The comfort of a Superliner, Talgo, or Amfleet would be wasted on 80% of the people on the train. On the other hand, LAX to Vegas would probably depart with high occupancy.

Actually you might be surprised by just how many people get on at the farthest stations on the Montauk Branch. In fact the LIRR even runs local trains between Montauk and Speonk that don't connect with any thing further east. They get a fair amount of ridership east of Speonk, which is a little over 2 hours east of Penn itself. That why the LIRR originates/terminates trains both in Speonk and Patchouge to/from the Manhattan. And some of the rush hour trains to/from Montauk run express through the closer in stations, and I'm talking about the stations that are between 1 hour away from Manhattan to two hours away, since basically once they are west of Babylon all trains from the Montauk branch run express.

 

[meatpuff]

It's not a matter of Amtrak not wanting to run a train to Vegas. It's a matter of Amtrak can't start a new service unless someone else agrees that Amtrak won't incur any losses by running starting a new service.

I thought this was no longer the case as of late last year. See for example the first item in NARP Hotline News #532:

http://www.narprail.org/cms/index.php/hotline/more/2007/12/

I think this may also have been covered very lightly in other media.

 

[the_traveler]

When I first read this I thought Anthony meant in Los Vegas, were this was the station.

The actual platform/station was behind hotel.

Not to say you're wrong, but you're wrong!

The LV station was not behind Main Street Station! It was connected to, in and behind the Union Plaza (as in Union Pacific - the original owners)! The Union Plaza is a short way from Main Street Station. (If I'm not mistaken, the front of the canopy on the bottom left of the photo is where the Union Plaza is located.)

If I had the ability I would at least develop a connection from Vegas to the Chief in Albuquerque, or whichever train Serves Williams if that is closer.

The nearest stations from the BNSF line are Kingman, AZ and Needles, CA. But there is no rail line between there and LV. Also between Kingman and LV is the Colorado River, Lake Mead and Hoover Dam!

 

[GG-1]

When I first read this I thought Anthony meant in Los Vegas, were this was the station.

The actual platform/station was behind hotel.

Not to say you're wrong, but you're wrong!

The LV station was not behind Main Street Station! It was connected to, in and behind the Union Plaza (as in Union Pacific - the original owners)! The Union Plaza is a short way from Main Street Station. (If I'm not mistaken, the front of the canopy on the bottom left of the photo is where the Union Plaza is located.)

Aloha

Under the canopy are several Cars that used to be at another Hotel that was demolished, I was pleased on my last trip to find they were still in Vegas.

I checked a map of Vegas and it showed Main Street Station a couple of blocks from a Plaza Hotel that was opposite Freemont Experience which then would be the original Station Hotel I made 2 trips to Vegas before passenger service was canceled. As you left the train the walkway led you through the casino.