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Amtrak - Desert Wind demise
Author: Reader
Date: 08-25-2016 - 07:56
Rails remain but Amtrak left Kid Vegas with the Desert Wind
August 21, 2016
[www.reviewjournal.com]
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Las Vegas’ roots as a railroad town can be traced back more than a century, but passengers haven’t arrived here by train in nearly two decades.
Several of you have called or sent e-mails asking why Amtrak doesn’t stop in Las Vegas, even though the tracks are in place.
Amtrak’s Desert Wind route ran from 1978 to 1997 between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City with several stops, including a station at 100 S. Main St., behind the Plaza downtown.
The shuttered, worn-down depot is still there, bypassed daily by lengthy cargo trains rumbling to nearby warehouses. Looking real close, you might spot the faint outlines of Amtrak signs and logos that were removed long ago from the structure.
Desert Wind offered daily service until 1995, when it was reduced to three times per week and ultimately killed two years later due to waning demand and cuts in federal subsidies.
Part of the problem was that the train trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas lasted up to seven hours, taking much longer than a casual four-hour drive. At the time, Amtrak’s fares were about the same as an hourlong flight aboard low-cost airlines flying out of Southern California’s airports, making the train ride pretty useless.
Since then, several ideas have come and gone to revive passenger rail service into Las Vegas.
For a time, Maglev was all the rage. About 15 years ago, local lawmakers had hedged their bets on a public-private partnership that called for building a 272-mile route for a guided, magnetic-levitation vehicle that would run from here to Anaheim, California. The cost: $6.8 billion.
That idea failed to gain momentum and quietly died.
Rep. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, has spent the past several years advocating for some sort of rail service for Southern Nevada, noting that the region has swelled to more than 2 million residents. Daily, an average of 44,419 vehicles crossed the California-Nevada border along Interstate 15 last year, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
“Amtrak is an option that I’ve considered as a temporary solution to help us bridge the gap until we have a financially viable high-speed rail project,” Titus said in a prepared statement.
Amtrak officials did not respond to a request for comment, but there are no immediate signs that the company plans to restart service to Las Vegas anytime soon.
And while Titus said that she supports the concept of high-speed rail service, the congresswoman has not publicly signaled whether she backs a plan proposed by XpressWest to build an $8 billion high-speed rail line linking Las Vegas and Southern California.
Last year, the Nevada High-Speed Rail Authority approved XpressWest’s plan to build a dual-track line connecting the two regions, with round-trip tickets expected to cost about $100 per passenger.
However, XpressWest cut its ties in June with the Chinese company that was supposed to help finance the project, citing problems with performance deadlines. Additionally, a federal mandate for American-made trains could be a roadblock, given that no U.S.-based companies manufacture high-speed trains.
Just the same, construction is expected to start in early 2017 on the first phase of the XpressWest project, running about 185 miles from Las Vegas to Victorville, California, following the Interstate 15 right-of-way. An environmental review is expected by fall for the second phase, which would extend the track 50 miles from Victorville to existing commuter rail service in Palmdale.
August 21, 2016
[www.reviewjournal.com]
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Las Vegas’ roots as a railroad town can be traced back more than a century, but passengers haven’t arrived here by train in nearly two decades.
Several of you have called or sent e-mails asking why Amtrak doesn’t stop in Las Vegas, even though the tracks are in place.
Amtrak’s Desert Wind route ran from 1978 to 1997 between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City with several stops, including a station at 100 S. Main St., behind the Plaza downtown.
The shuttered, worn-down depot is still there, bypassed daily by lengthy cargo trains rumbling to nearby warehouses. Looking real close, you might spot the faint outlines of Amtrak signs and logos that were removed long ago from the structure.
Desert Wind offered daily service until 1995, when it was reduced to three times per week and ultimately killed two years later due to waning demand and cuts in federal subsidies.
Part of the problem was that the train trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas lasted up to seven hours, taking much longer than a casual four-hour drive. At the time, Amtrak’s fares were about the same as an hourlong flight aboard low-cost airlines flying out of Southern California’s airports, making the train ride pretty useless.
Since then, several ideas have come and gone to revive passenger rail service into Las Vegas.
For a time, Maglev was all the rage. About 15 years ago, local lawmakers had hedged their bets on a public-private partnership that called for building a 272-mile route for a guided, magnetic-levitation vehicle that would run from here to Anaheim, California. The cost: $6.8 billion.
That idea failed to gain momentum and quietly died.
Rep. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, has spent the past several years advocating for some sort of rail service for Southern Nevada, noting that the region has swelled to more than 2 million residents. Daily, an average of 44,419 vehicles crossed the California-Nevada border along Interstate 15 last year, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
“Amtrak is an option that I’ve considered as a temporary solution to help us bridge the gap until we have a financially viable high-speed rail project,” Titus said in a prepared statement.
Amtrak officials did not respond to a request for comment, but there are no immediate signs that the company plans to restart service to Las Vegas anytime soon.
And while Titus said that she supports the concept of high-speed rail service, the congresswoman has not publicly signaled whether she backs a plan proposed by XpressWest to build an $8 billion high-speed rail line linking Las Vegas and Southern California.
Last year, the Nevada High-Speed Rail Authority approved XpressWest’s plan to build a dual-track line connecting the two regions, with round-trip tickets expected to cost about $100 per passenger.
However, XpressWest cut its ties in June with the Chinese company that was supposed to help finance the project, citing problems with performance deadlines. Additionally, a federal mandate for American-made trains could be a roadblock, given that no U.S.-based companies manufacture high-speed trains.
Just the same, construction is expected to start in early 2017 on the first phase of the XpressWest project, running about 185 miles from Las Vegas to Victorville, California, following the Interstate 15 right-of-way. An environmental review is expected by fall for the second phase, which would extend the track 50 miles from Victorville to existing commuter rail service in Palmdale.
Amtrak - Desert Wind demise