New (actually not) idea: The Desert Pioneer

[sttom]

Interesting proposal, but I think it would be better to use the former Pioneer/Desert Wind schedules, with thru service to/from Chicago, if service was ever to be restored on those routes.

I don't think you would get much thru Los Angeles to Portland traffic on your proposal, other than a few railfans, or curious tourists, that have already 'done' the Coast Starlight route.

Just to ask, how many people take the Starlight from LA to Seattle? From my cursory readings of transit planning, its more important to serve trips in the middle of the route rather than someone taking the train from end to end. If I am remembering correctly the Amtrak line the article used as an example showed that only 5% or so of people took the train from its starting station to its terminating station. So the bigger market, at least my assumption would be to get people from LA to Vegas, Vegas to Salt Lake, Salt Lake to Idaho and Boise to Portland rather than the odd tourist who might ride from LA to Portland for the scenery. 

 

[jis]

The relevant thing to consider is are there more people wanting to go from Las Vegas to Idaho rather than Las Vegas or Idaho to Denver, in a manner of speaking. I have no idea.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

Unlike a lot of people here, I think that a Utah-SoCal train would do quite well. Despite the reputation of the state, the casino's on the borders of Utah do quite well with Utahans and with the growth in the, what's it called, Wasatch Front, a train to Vegas would probably do fairly well, in addition to the travel between LA and Utah and Vegas.

Now whether this is worthy of investment over such a train that would or could serve, say, oh, lets say for arguments sake, St. Louis, Effingham, Terre Haute, Indy, Dayton, Columbus, etc is another question.

(note to/on the first paragraph, do well assuming good times, speed and reliability)

 

[neroden]

The relevant thing to consider is are there more people wanting to go from Las Vegas to Idaho rather than Las Vegas or Idaho to Denver, in a manner of speaking. I have no idea.

The number of people who want to go to or from Idaho is vanishingly small.

Salt Lake - Vegas would do good business, though.  Not good enough to *justify* a train given that, say, Ithaca-Syracuse NY would do more business and we don't have a train.

 

[jis]

Yeah, I was merely musing about the LD possibilities to the north and east from Las Vegas rather than just the Los Angeles - Vegas thing. Afterall the LAX - Vegas portion should be more than adequately covered by Virgin Trains USA, and I think Amtrak is unlikely to be able to compete against hourly 12 to 16 runs per day anyway.

On the LD side of things, my impression is that there will be more demand for Vegas - SLC - DEN than Vegas - SLC - Idaho. If that is true then it is doubly difficult to justify this new old idea that this thread is about.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

On the LD side of things, my impression is that there will be more demand for Vegas - SLC - DEN than Vegas - SLC - Idaho. If that is true then it is doubly difficult to justify this new old idea that this thread is about.

I think (based on relatives and friends who've lived in that area - obviously anecdotal) there is a lot of regional contact and road traffic between the SLC region and SE Idaho, but whether enough for a train, even a regional one, I can't answer.

That said a train from SLC to the NW, either Portland or Seattle via Boise might do "ok" but again, there are more people in the east in bigger cities that need service first.

 

[sttom]

The relevant thing to consider is are there more people wanting to go from Las Vegas to Idaho rather than Las Vegas or Idaho to Denver, in a manner of speaking. I have no idea.

There are plenty of Mormon missionaries that might want to take the train. It is the Mormon Corridor after all. But on a serious not, I could see a Vegas-Salt Lake train working as a corridor service. With a trip or two into eastern Idaho. All the way to Oregon? You'd have to entirely bank on their being enough demand within Idaho and to Portland to justify it.