Las Vegas Train Has A Start Date!

[amtrakadirondack]

Amtrak says that its Los Angeles to Las Vegas will start to operate in early April of 2004!

 

[warbonnet]

This is great news if it's for real!! Where did you get this information? Is there a news release or something official?

Wb

 

[amtrakadirondack]

You can go to this website: www.keyholidays.com/lasvegas.htm

Hope this helps

 

[warbonnet]

I looked at the web site you mentioned. It appears this April 2004 Las Vegas train is a special tourist train from Keyholiday travel, and not regularly scheduled Amtrak service.

Thanks,

Wb

 

[amtrakadirondack]

The trains will be daily, but just like the Reno Snow train, the train is owned and operated by Amtrak, but I'm not sure on booking. :blink:

 

[Amfleet]

According to that link the trains will not be daily and will operate LA to Vegas on Tuesday and a return on Thursday.

 

[PRR 60]

According to that link the trains will not be daily and will operate LA to Vegas on Tuesday and a return on Thursday.

The Key Holidays Las Vegas Fun Train ran once or twice in 2002. It is not a weekly service, it is more like a junket excursion that runs every once and a while. Although scheduled to run this year, it was cancelled due to poor demand. The 2004 effort will be similar to 2002, a couple of special trips, with the entire operation depending on tickets being sold. This is a special excursion service, run by Amtrak under contract, and permitted by the Union Pacific due to it’s infrequent (once or twice a year) schedule.

 

[Allen Dee]

Amtrak says that its Los Angeles to Las Vegas will start to operate in early April of 2004!

You got my hopes up here, but not for long.

But I will look into Key Holidays.

 

[Allen Dee]

Collisions Triple Along the Road to Las Vegas

Construction on I-15 takes a toll. Narrow shoulders, speeding drivers are blamed.

By Hugo Martín, Times Staff Writer

Traffic accidents along a busy stretch of Interstate 15 in the high desert have been on the rise since a freeway construction project began last year, making trips to Las Vegas during the upcoming Memorial Day weekend a greater gamble for Southern California motorists.

Since work began in April 2002 to widen Interstate 15 between Victorville and Barstow, the number of accidents has grown steadily, with collisions more than tripling on some stretches of the desert freeway, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Crews have lined most of the 26-mile construction zone with heavy concrete barriers that, in some locations, are only inches from fast-moving traffic. Caltrans officials say the narrower shoulder and median space may have contributed to an increase in accidents by reducing the space motorists need to avoid slow or stalled vehicles.

Still, state Department of Transportation officials and CHP officers blame much of the increase on reckless drivers who fail to slow down in the construction zone.

Caltrans has lowered the speed limit from 70 mph to 60 mph through the construction area, but CHP officers say they routinely cite motorists for speeding at more than 100 mph on that stretch.

"Any way you slice it, it's driver error," said CHP Officer Adam Cortines, who patrols the interstate from Barstow to the Nevada line.

CHP officials believe excessive speed may have caused an accident on I-15 in March that injured about 100 passengers when a tourist bus heading from Las Vegas to Los Angeles collided with another bus that had stopped in the construction zone traffic. Dazed and bloody passengers crawled or were pulled from the wreckage. Forty-six of the injured were hospitalized.

Motorists who regularly take Interstate 15 to Las Vegas say the construction makes the trip a bit more harrowing.

"The barriers are too close to the road," said Louis Aguilar, a Los Angeles resident who was headed for Las Vegas with his family on a recent Friday. "It's too scary," he added as he gassed up his red Mustang at a station near Barstow.

David Sigler, a Long Beach resident who recently spent a few days in Las Vegas, said he slowed down through the construction zone but still noticed many motorists driving at least 85 mph.

"If you want to lower the accident rates, you need to do more police enforcement," he said.

CHP to Increase Patrols

Anticipating a rise in traffic to Las Vegas during Memorial Day weekend, the CHP plans to increase patrols along the interstate to crack down on speeding, drunk driving and other violations.

In the five-month period after construction started, collisions there jumped by 35% to 50 accidents per month, from an average of 37 per month during the same period the previous year, according to the CHP. Injury and fatality rates remained relatively stable, suggesting that the additional accidents were mostly minor. On the entire stretch of Interstate 15 from Victorville to the Nevada border, CHP statistics show an increase in traffic accidents of nearly 40% in the 12 months since construction began. Fatality rates have not grown significantly but injury rates have nearly doubled, according to the CHP.

The $120-million widening project — adding a lane in each direction — was designed to accommodate traffic volume on I-15 that has tripled since 1972. Caltrans engineers predict volume will double again — to 100,000 average daily trips — by 2025.

The growing traffic is attributed to the skyrocketing popularity of Las Vegas as a holiday destination. Nevada's gambling mecca has been among the top five travel destinations for Southern Californians for several years, according to the Auto Club of Southern California.

With gasoline prices declining, Las Vegas may be an especially tempting destination over Memorial Day weekend.

"Motorists should plan to expect some delays," said Jeff Spring, a spokesman for the Auto Club. "Road trips to Las Vegas are arduous as it is."

The new southbound lane is expected to open in January, and the new northbound lane about 12 months later.

Work crews close one lane in each direction as construction continues six nights a week. But Caltrans plans to keep those lanes open during the Memorial Day weekend.

Caltrans officials concede they may have to consider still another I-15 expansion in 10 to 15 years if traffic volume continues to grow at the current rate, said department spokeswoman Rose Melgoza.

Traffic Volume Grows

Part of the increase in accidents could be due to the growing volume. In November, Caltrans completed a 14-mile stretch of the Foothill Freeway between La Verne and Rancho Cucamonga, giving Southern Californians another link to Interstate 15. Caltrans officials have yet to analyze traffic volume numbers for I-15 since the Foothill Freeway was extended.

However, even before that, CHP crash statistics show accidents began to increase gradually after the I-15 construction project north of Victorville began in April 2002. Speed has been a persistent problem on Interstate 15 between Victorville and the Nevada line, a mostly straight stretch that cuts through the Mojave Desert, according to Caltrans officials.

The road can been especially dangerous when the traffic includes big-rig trucks hauling goods in and out of Southern California, tourists in unwieldy motor homes and young Southern Californians trying to make a quick weekend trip to Las Vegas with little sleep and little patience for slower traffic, CHP officials said.

"Some people slow down and some don't care," said CHP Officer Bob Scranton, who patrols I-15 near Victorville.

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The above is a recent article in the LA Times. Now, wouldn't trains on this corridor be a much better alternative?

 

[jccollins]

You got my hopes up here, but not for long.

Mine too! Note the operant words on the Key Holidays' website:

"We plan to look at Las Vegas train service again for 2004. If conditions are right, we hope to run our special trains in early April of that year."

We can only hope... the trains failed to attract enough passengers last year. I attribute the lack of passengers to very poor and limited marketing, as well as the lack of time/stay offered at Las Vegas. Two nights is not very long! It would be nice to have the option to stay a few more days and return on a later train. Amtrak should/could help with the marketing efforts by posting the "excursion service" on the main page of its website and by sponsoring joint-promotions in California stations. If the service is a big success, it will be more convincing for California DOT officials to seriously consider initiating the service themselves, without the financial support of Amtrak national, to help relieve the major motorway problems. I know about the budget woes in California, but you'd be surprised where money can show up from when it's needed!

B)

 

[seajay]

Collisions Triple Along the Road to Las Vegas
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The above is a recent article in the LA Times.  Now, wouldn't trains on this corridor be a much better alternative?

It certainly would! Why don't Amtrak and/or the states of California and Nevada understand this? I really haven't followed the issue closely enough to understand. Why was the Desert Wind eliminated in the first place? Was it just an overall funding issue or did the ridership not warrant having the line?

Unfortunately, once the I-15 construction is completed, many people will probably consider a rail line unecessary.

seajay

 

[gyuri_ft]

1) I recently unearthed my Super8 moovie I shot from Desert Wind. It was a fantastic scenery - almost unreal.

I did live in Europe at that time (1991) and the train was full of tourists. I remember the economy sleeper being sold at the reservation desk for $190 (not on board! I did not know at that time the sleepers are cheaper on board so I bought it in Denver at the window). Today they cost twice as much at the window.

Why Deser Wind was canceled it is still a big mystery for me and the proof of Amtrak mismanagement in pre-Gunn times. Why they cannot pull their act togheter and make it run again is a complete nonsence. One part of my brain KNOWS the reasons but the other part cannot UNDERSTAND them.

2) Re- Key Holidays train. Well, I can make ANY train unatractive no matter what.

Just pick your route It could be Boston <--> Washington, for instance.

- I would make public unaware of train

- I would determine the reasonable price for that route, multiply it by 3 and give travel

offices no incentive to sell. Also, if I am a rail company I would NOT sell them.

- I would run an erratic schedule and depart at most inconvenient time. Ideally it

would be Monday 2 am and returnig Thursday 3 am. The fact when does the train

run will be determined by constellations of the 2nd and 6th Mond of Saturn.

This way not a single customer would be on board between Washington and Boston. Therefore I could state, nobody wants to go that route by train.

 

[Allen Dee]

You got my hopes up here, but not for long.

Mine too! Note the operant words on the Key Holidays' website:

"We plan to look at Las Vegas train service again for 2004. If conditions are right, we hope to run our special trains in early April of that year."

We can only hope... the trains failed to attract enough passengers last year. I attribute the lack of passengers to very poor and limited marketing, as well as the lack of time/stay offered at Las Vegas. Two nights is not very long! It would be nice to have the option to stay a few more days and return on a later train. Amtrak should/could help with the marketing efforts by posting the "excursion service" on the main page of its website and by sponsoring joint-promotions in California stations. If the service is a big success, it will be more convincing for California DOT officials to seriously consider initiating the service themselves, without the financial support of Amtrak national, to help relieve the major motorway problems. I know about the budget woes in California, but you'd be surprised where money can show up from when it's needed!

B)

If these trains are a "go", you can bet your bottom dollar that I will be on the very first one!

And you all can expect a very pictorial trip report.

If this service is marketed properly, it will be a great success. I signed up on line for Key Holidays mailing list for brochures on this service. I will do everything in my power to see that these brochures are prominently displayed in every Amtrak station in Southern California.

 

[amtrakadirondack]

If these trains are a "go", you can bet your bottom dollar that I will be on the very first one!

Ditto, my parents are waiting to take a visit in 2004 to Las Vegas, and I want to see the new Train, so as soon as its available, we are going to take the Coast Starlight from Seattle (Where we are going to be moving to in about a month) and take the new train to Las Vegas. I’m hoping to ride the first Amtrak train back to Las Vegas, So, look for a olive-skinned man, a white red haired woman, an olive skinned teen and an olive skinned boy, that’s my family, might see you might not, I bet the train will be filled. Bye!

 

[Allen Dee]

Thank you, moderators, for changing the title of this thread.

 

[Poindexter118]

I too, was ready to jump out of my computer chair when I read the announcement about

the revival of the L.A. - L.V. train. My wife & I had taken the old Desert Wind & thoroughly enjoyed it.

I will check out the website on holiday travel.

I hope this one will be a keeper. I won't take I-15 until the highway is completed. It was bad enough before the construction, I can only imagine how it is now. Whew!

Let's keep on training.

 

[Allen Dee]

I too, was ready to jump out of my computer chair when I read the announcement about the revival of the L.A. - L.V. train. My wife & I had taken the old Desert Wind & thoroughly enjoyed it.

I will check out the website on holiday travel.

I hope this one will be a keeper. I won't take I-15 until the highway is completed. It was bad enough before the construction, I can only imagine how it is now. Whew!

Let's keep on training.

There are 2 major construction projects on the I-15 corridor. One is between Victorville and Barstow, and the other is between Baker and Halloran Summit. These projects are are not scheduled for completion until 2005. Once these projects are completed, you can expect the 2 remaining segments (Barstow to Baker and Halloran Summit to the state line) to undergo the same thing. It will probably take the better part of the decade to finish all of this work.

Driving on these stretches of road now is like driving a bus through the Holland Tunnel. Those of you in the Northeast need only to ask a few NJT bus drivers what that is like.

Thankfully, the construction project within the state of Nevada has been completed, and it is really nice.

The bottom line is I refuse to drive or ride a bus through this corridor in the interim. And we don't need train service here?

 

[Superliner Diner]

Driving on these stretches of road now is like driving a bus through the Holland Tunnel. Those of you in the Northeast need only to ask a few NJT bus drivers what that is like.

Except that most NJT bus drivers use the Lincoln Tunnel, not the Holland, although I surmise it's just as bad!

 

[jccollins]

Thankfully, the construction project within the state of Nevada has been completed, and it is really nice.

Does it have dedicated lanes for Amtrak Thruway Motorcoaches? :lol:

 

[Viewliner]

Driving on these stretches of road now is like driving a bus through the Holland Tunnel.  Those of you in the Northeast need only to ask a few NJT bus drivers what that is like.  

Except that most NJT bus drivers use the Lincoln Tunnel, not the Holland, although I surmise it's just as bad!

Keep in mind that there is a bus lane set up for the inbound morning rush hour, which isn't as bad as if it were in the same lane as the cars, but still has back ups. The bus lane is just a set of cones set up on the outbound side.

 

[Allen Dee]

Except that most NJT bus drivers use the Lincoln Tunnel, not the Holland, although I surmise it's just as bad!

The industry standard for many years for buses has been 102" width. However, the Holland Tunnel prohibits vehicles wider than the older standard of 96" width. NJT has to special order new buses for these runs, and they still get a lot of mirrors ripped off.

But I'm talking about driving 25-mile stretches in the middle of the desert.