Article states they are shooting for mid 2011 start date.
And says they're looking at bi-level commuter cars.
Probably former Metra gallery cars, with new long distance seating. The cars are available, easy to renovate and have plenty of life left. Considering that some of the original C&NW were built with long distance seating and dining facilities, it isn't much of stretch renovate former commuter gallery cars into equipment suitable for a comfortable L.A. to Vegas run.
Would be interesting to see how they manage to put in long distance reclining seats in the upper levels of the gallery cars.
As Marion Morrison said, a number of C&NW bilevels were built for intercity service from Chicago to points in Wisconsin. The cars were identical to the Chicago area commuter cars on the outside, but had long distance coach seats on the interior. I rode in this cars once and as I recall there were reclining long distance type seats on the upper level, so it's not impossible. There were some lounge cars as part of the order. Dining cars were operated on some of the trains, but these were existing dinner cars with false tops to match the height of the other cars!!! Passageway between cars on Chicago area bilevels is on the lower level, not upstairs like the Superliners, so conventional single level equipment could also be used on the trains.Would be interesting to see how they manage to put in long distance reclining seats in the upper levels of the gallery cars.
it's one of the more sensible options I've seen; rather than the time (and cost) of building magleg or a HSR route - use the track that's already there.
Ditto!
You know you may have just hit on something big! If Congress sees this making money they're sure to start asking questions of Amtrak what they have been doing with almost 40 years of subsidies. Might be some people squirming in 60 Massachusetts Ave. before its over :unsure:
Of course, they haven't done it yet and whether it makes a profit or not hasn't been determined. Remember the American Orient Express. It ran some fine trains, but it's gone. The Las Vegas monorail is a private enterprise that's not making any money. And, of course, we don't know if Union Pacific will go along with this, even at a "premium" price. The states have the option to find other operators, such as Herzog or Connex, but the freight railroads seem reluctant to deal with anybody other than Amtrak.
I'm thinking less about the "subsidies blowback" than I am that they've done three route studies (Hiawatha, Pioneer, and Northern Flyer) which are spectacularly expensive to start operations. If a private operator could start a service like this on a route Amtrak abandoned for poor results, and make money, it could create an inducement for states to go outside of Amtrak for services, limiting Amtrak to what they have already. I think that'd be a disaster, in that it'd undercut 48-state support for Amtrak capital and operating subsidies (or 46 - aren't there two states in the Continental US w/o service too?), and possibly cause loss of some state operated routes to other companies, further undermining fixed cost coverage.
The point I was making is that private firms have operated trains and rapid transit in recent years, but so far nobody's made a profit at it. If the Las Vegas outfit can do it, then good for them. If they undermine support for Amtrak and high speed rail, then it won't be so good.
If they start in 2011, they will have about a two years span to make it. The Desertxpress private HSR due to start construction in 2-3 months will be running in 2013. That might provide interesting competition, especially if they stop at Victorville. If that happens, most likely people will bail at Victorville and hop the Desertxpress from there. I'd bet that that they will not stop at Victorville just because that would happen.
And some really big IFs. IF they can get the agreements with UP to run at a reasonable price and all the other things they need (expensive liability insurance, etc), and IF they can make money at it after all that. I'll wait and see before expecting any storms on Capitol Hill.
And if you believe DesertExpress can start construction in 2 to3 months, and even if they manage that, you also beleive they will be running in 2013 - that is less than 4 years even if the date is Dec 31 - then you are a prime candidate as an investor in a factory that will manufacture perpetual motion machines.
I am not a big fan of the Amtrak Thruway from Bakersfield but it is the only same day option to connect with the CS and San Joaquins. I am surprised at how few passengers the Thruway carries. It has to be subsidized by the San Joaquins. Taking the Thruway again to Vegas next month but as previously mentioned, I am taking the LuxBus to LA, overnighting, and catching the CS north.
It's got a good load on Thruway between LA areas and Bakersfield, esp. on the weekends. One time, it took 3 bus from LAUS to Bakersfield.
They generally make a profit, but not consistently, at least under its previous owners. It generally goes one way or the other from breaking even by a $50,000 either way. Its probably a tax-write off for its owners.
