Vegas X Train in talks to use UP track

[Roadfool]

As much as I'd love to see this happen, I don't see any way they could make a profit in that market. If there was money to be made there, some wealthy developer in California or Nevada would have already tried it. $99 seems like a reasonable price until you look at how cheap it is to fly to Vegas. Southwest has $59 fares from LA and $49 from SF. It can be even cheaper than that to fly from Fresno on Allegiant Air ($19 midweek/$49 weekend), which is why that Thruway bus from BFD to Vegas is so empty. The TSA hassle is the one thing working in this train's favor, but I don't know if it's at the point where people will pay almost twice as much for a train ride that takes hours longer.

And us railfans may think a train ride is more convenient than driving, but I'm not sure you'd get a lot of people in the LA area to agree with that, especially if it costs $99 per person. Unless you're traveling solo, it really makes no economic sense to spend $99 each versus having everyone chip in on a $50-75 tank of gas. Yeah, the traffic on I-15 sucks at peak times, but it's really not that bad if you take off work early or leave a few hours later (I lived in Orange County for 5 years and made the drive regularly...takes about 4 1/2 hours if you do it right). And remember, you're talking about people who live in SoCal. No matter how bad the traffic on I-15 is, it pales in comparison to what most people deal with every day commuting to work. There's also the hassle of getting to and from the train station, especially if you live outside of the immediate LA area. I'd rather just drive to Vegas than try to get into LA during the day.

 

[Guest_George Harris_*]

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.

California law requires these bus routes to at least cover their operating costs. This is part of the legislation allowing them, a result of Greyhound and other private bus company lobbying.

 

[MikeM]

As much as I'd love to see this happen, I don't see any way they could make a profit in that market. If there was money to be made there, some wealthy developer in California or Nevada would have already tried it. $99 seems like a reasonable price until you look at how cheap it is to fly to Vegas. Southwest has $59 fares from LA and $49 from SF. It can be even cheaper than that to fly from Fresno on Allegiant Air ($19 midweek/$49 weekend), which is why that Thruway bus from BFD to Vegas is so empty. The TSA hassle is the one thing working in this train's favor, but I don't know if it's at the point where people will pay almost twice as much for a train ride that takes hours longer.
And us railfans may think a train ride is more convenient than driving, but I'm not sure you'd get a lot of people in the LA area to agree with that, especially if it costs $99 per person. Unless you're traveling solo, it really makes no economic sense to spend $99 each versus having everyone chip in on a $50-75 tank of gas. Yeah, the traffic on I-15 sucks at peak times, but it's really not that bad if you take off work early or leave a few hours later (I lived in Orange County for 5 years and made the drive regularly...takes about 4 1/2 hours if you do it right). And remember, you're talking about people who live in SoCal. No matter how bad the traffic on I-15 is, it pales in comparison to what most people deal with every day commuting to work. There's also the hassle of getting to and from the train station, especially if you live outside of the immediate LA area. I'd rather just drive to Vegas than try to get into LA during the day.

Never underestimate the desire of idiots to start getting drunk before arriving in Vegas! Plus if some casino's partially underwrite the service in exchange for preferential packages or the like, that could bring the cost down too. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out, although deep down I question if it'll be a money making proposition.

 

[jphjaxfl]

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.

There are a number of the old C&NW cars at various locations in the midwest (there were quite a few at the old EJ&E yard in Joliet, IL., although I'm not sure if they are still there), so the equipment is available and could probably be rehabbed.

It will be interesting to see if this outfit can pull this off. It certainly serves a market that needs trains.

I rode some of C&NW bi level long distance cars that ran up until Amtrak started on May 1, 1971. They actually had some parlor cars as well as coaches. They were different than Santa Fe's High Level Cars built for the El Capitain because they were Gallery Style. Amtrak leased some of the coaches and ran them on the Illinois Zephyr and other midwest corridor trains.