Interesting items in Forbes et al about the new Rocky Mountaineer service from Denver to Moab. That should be a pretty ride, especially the last part through the red rock country. One wonders, of course, how much work UP will have to do on the branch to allow passenger train use even at 15 mph.

If that run leads to profits (Rocky Mountaineer is a private company), perhaps we could see expansion into other territories. One that comes to mind might be Phoenix or Tuscon to Grand Canyon. I'm not going to suggest, with a straight face, a rider coach for Amtrak connections because that's just not practical; Phoenix (and possibly farther) passenger traffic off the Sunset and even the Chief can probably be easily handled by a couple of buses, and the flexibility of buses is needed to deal with the highly variable timekeeping of both trains.