The subject line pretty much says it all.
I know UP is pretty sticky about letting Amtrak use the tracks over the Tehachapi pass. But hundreds of people daily are willing to stuff themselves into buses for a 2-3 hour drive to BFD in order to get on the San Joaquin; that number would skyrocket if they could board the train at LAX.
Even one train per day each direction would be such a drastic improvement over the current situation, and it could be done with the same equipment: 716 (which currently arrives BFD at 7:26pm and overnights there) could connect through to arrive at LAX around 10pm-ish, and then leave LAX as 714 the next morning at around 8am. And only two trains per day on that stretch of track would be a fairly minor disruption to UP's freight operations.
Okay, your turn, tell me all the reasons this will never happen.
I know UP is pretty sticky about letting Amtrak use the tracks over the Tehachapi pass. But hundreds of people daily are willing to stuff themselves into buses for a 2-3 hour drive to BFD in order to get on the San Joaquin; that number would skyrocket if they could board the train at LAX.
Even one train per day each direction would be such a drastic improvement over the current situation, and it could be done with the same equipment: 716 (which currently arrives BFD at 7:26pm and overnights there) could connect through to arrive at LAX around 10pm-ish, and then leave LAX as 714 the next morning at around 8am. And only two trains per day on that stretch of track would be a fairly minor disruption to UP's freight operations.
Okay, your turn, tell me all the reasons this will never happen.