While the rival maglev-to-Anaheim and high-speed Las Vegas-to-Victorville train projects duke it out for funding and bragging rights, a third Vegas-to-SoCal project has entered the fray. Las Vegas Railway Express proposes to employ existing infrastructure and trains, reducing by three years — and billions of dollars, one presumes — the timeline for resumption of passenger-rail service into Sin City.
Your baggage will be checked straight to the hotel from the so-called X Train … but it appears you will have to shift for yourself, so that may be a problem with consumers. The Vegas cabbies will love it, though.
The “X” factor, as it were, is the question of whether travelers will consider it worth $99 to take a 5.5-hour ride to Las Vegas when they can get their faster (most of the time) by car, at less expense. Even with all the hassle of getting in and out of airports, some fares into and out of SoCal are low enough that the train vs. plane equation could be a wash — although anything that doesn’t involve standing in TSA screening lines has my vote.
X Train backers are banking on being able to get priority on the track by crossing the palm of Union Pacific of silver, so that the latter will stand aside, theoretically shaving as much as 150 minutes off the journey. (Not such good news if UP is carrying your freight, but that’s business.)
As to the feasibility of the travel time, judge for yourself. Note the speed of the train as it chugs up the Cajon Pass and then its much faster clip (roughly at 3:35)* when it hits level ground. Given the long odds facing both of the rival high-speed projects, the X Train at least has the comforting potential of financial viability. However, if the train’s proponents are planning to make it pencil out by dint of live blackjack and slot play on the rails — as depicted on their Web site — they’ll be looking at legal and regulatory obstacles that would make the Cajon Pass seem a modest incline by comparison.
* — special thanks to reader Kerr_Mudgeon for the video link.
This isn’t new, it appeared in the LVA news feed in either November or December.
From looking at it’s site it’s basically one of those scams where somebody goes somewhere, announces intentions to build something, and runs off with the money. They’re a stock on some unimportant exchange somewhere or something, if I remember it right. I just remember the whole thing being very unprofessional and very shady
I agree that slots & blackjack might not be approved, but maybe they could offer some variant of bingo or keno to placate the gambling hunger of the train’s “excursionists” who aren’t sufficiently busy dancing, singing, drinking, eating, and watching the desert scenery. (I wonder if they’ll allow smoking on the train… I hope so.)
Anyhow… I want this train. I hate the airport hassles, and avoid air travel whenever I can. $99 round trip is a good price. Whether you arrive at the LV airport, or at a train depot, you’ll still have to get to your hotel. Now, at the airport, you can pay for a cab; take a shuttle bus (if your hotel offers one); rent a car. The same choices could apply if you arrive by train. Matter of fact, the train might let you off closer to your hotel than an airplane would.
Speed of train trip: doesn’t matter that much to patrons of an “excursion”; part of the pleasure of the trip is the trip itself – and 5 1/2 is not excessive. I used to take the Amtrak ‘Desert Wind’ train to Las Vegas, on its way to Salt Lake City. The train was always so packed as far as Vegas that I could not make reservations for the days I wanted.
It looks like one of the train’s few stops will be in the Fullerton Station, which is right up the street from where I live. As far as I’m concerned, all aboard!
For Vegas’ sake, I hope you’re wrong, Mike, but I do have to question the due diligence on a project that assumes on-board play of live slots and blackjack. While the Nevada Gaming Commission might salivate like dogs over the idea, there remain the not-inconsiderable problems of A) tribal exclusivity in California and B) gambling as a form of interstate commerce, which puts it in Washington’s purview. And then the cat is truly amongst the pigeons.