Amtrak still goes through the Cajon Pass twice a day. The train USED to run through Vegas and the track between LA and Vegas is just fine. In the stretches where it parallels I-15, the trains used to pass up the automobile traffic going 80. Amtrak could resume service tomorrow if they wanted to.
Well, not exactly tomorrow, they would have to have the track inspected and certified for passenger use, and they would have to scrounge some equipment, but still…
Does anyone know if the Amtrak station is still in Vegas? I was looking for it last time but couldn’t find it. I remember coming through there many times. They would always announce the 15 minute layover and that passengers who went into the casino should keep careful track of time. We left someone behind every single time. 
To answer my own question in the previous post, I went to Google Earth, and at the very least the platforming seems to remain at the old Amtrak station. It is where the track passes the plaza hotel if you want to check it out.
All true, but alas, it’s hard to get people out of their cars. Who wants to ride a train to Las Vegas so you can walk when you have a perfectly good car at home?
I agree that if you could get even a fraction of the drivers into the train it would be a paying proposition. When you top Cajon Pass northbound on Sunday evening you see nothing but headlights coming at you on the road from Las Vegas.
It seems that Amtrak has had plans to resume the service between LA and Vegas using Talgo equipment, but has not done so as of yet. The Talgo equipment has a 10 mph advantage in the twisty bits, so it would really rip through the pass.
Considering Amtrak’s current financial state, and the current political environment, don’t look for service resuming any time soon. 
The administration would love to kill Amtrak altogether, and if anything they will be cutting more service, not expanding it. :rolleyes:
If they resumed service, it would be an easy thing to put in a new platform on the west side of the tracks from the Plaza. Plenty of room, and you could bypass the traffic of downtown fairly easily.
Friday afternoon departures, at say 3 and 6pm. Sunday returns starting at noon. Bar car and discount rates with partnered hotels. This would fly in a heartbeat.
Add a Friday 9pm departure, and I’m in.
You’re right that it’s strange that this hasn’t happened before; the road to Vegas is thick with Angelenos on Friday nights. Maybe the issue is that it isn’t worth the infrastructure for the limited runs they’d make (Friday to Vegas, Sunday from Vegas). For the LA to SD run, there are tons of (business) reasons to go during the week that I don’t see as much for LA to Vegas.
I don’t think that anyone will do it, but the trains could run only on weekends. Cajon Pass is pretty busy during the week with long freight trains since both UP and BNSF use the track. However freight traffic is down on weekends leaving room for some passenger trains.
Another problem is that everyone would have to drive to some central location like downtown LA to catch the train. The freeways that lead to downtown are often jammed with traffic even if there isn’t an accident. Los Angeles is so spread out that for most people getting on a freeway and just heading to Vegas is a lot easier than trying to get downtown.
I think its safe to say that most southern Californians just don’t have a “train mentality”. Trains run on a schedule, but people around here just want to leave “now” or when they are good and ready to leave. And when they are ready to leave Vegas they just want to be able to walk out of their hotel room to their car and drive home.
I’m sorry, I think you missed my probably poorly articulated point.
In the absence of a high-speed train, like the Acela, only better, there won’t be any passenger train service that is successful. And I doubt that you’d easily manage a high-speed train route over the passes, without totally rebuilding the lines.
Sorry if that didn’t come through clearly at first.
For what it’s worth: as a younger man, I took that train once as a one day turn-around, just on a lark. A few things about that train: at the time, it had through service to Salt Lake City. The fairly difficult problem was the return trip; late by several hours. The train had gotten slowed down by weather out of Salt Lake City, I think. The train was supposed to have gotten into downtown by 8 o’clock p.m. or some such; instead would have gotten downtown by 11 o’clock or so. I didn’t care to try to get home from downtown L.A. at such a late hour, so hopped off at Fullerton (I’d taken a bus to get to downtown). Got part way home by OC Transit, then had to call a cab (!) to get the rest of the way home. Long evening. Otherwise pleasant enough.
Wouldn’t be a problem for trains dedicated between LA and LV, but that also means that there would maybe need to be a way to service trains or park spare trains in Vegas. Don’t know if this is so, or how much trouble it would be, but the point is that there are probably other train logistics to consider. I don’t know if the passes as such are a big deal, but they do have only a limited number of tracks for all the trains that go through.
No problems that couldn’t be solved by spending enough money on it, though.
Actually, the Red and Gold lines feed directly into Union Station, and the Blue line connects to the Red line, so a lot of the city is a quick train ride away. If you are spending the weekend, all you need is a small knapsack and you are gold. It’s not like you are going to have to schlep a lot of luggage.
The Acela is not markedly faster than the Metroliners it replaced. The Talgo train can tilt, giving it a 10 mph advantage over standard equipment in areas with a lot of curves. Unfortunately the only section of the LA-Vegas route that this would really help in is the pass, a small fraction of the total distance.
Amtrak has run dedicated trains to Las Vegas in the past that were very well utilized. High speed rail is NOT a requirement for a LA-Vegas train.
As oil prices continue to rise in the long term, we will look like fools for dismantling Amtrak piece by piece.
I’m not familiar with the route, but if those passes can handle modern freighters going at an acceptable speed (for a freighter), then they can handle a faster passenger train. You might not be at European levels, but it would not be significantly below current American standards on less difficult routes - a little, but not what the average tourist would care about. This brings us to tilt trains - these are actually primarily a gimmick for comfort rather than safety. Passengers start to feel uncomfortable lateral forces long before increasing speed through a curve becomes dangerous (think of the scale speed of a model train running about an oval track without derailing).
As for solar panels on the roof - they might be lucky to provide the interior lighting alone - forget the traction motors.
A normal loco-hauled passenger train could do the job well enough.
Could an Acela-like medium-speed train (but a bit faster) that nonetheless took the passes at a slower speed still shave off a significant amount of time from the trip versus a standard slow-speed train? I know that a real “high-speed” train would require a totally different track layout throughout, but could you do a medium-speed train with track changes only on the lowlands?
Hoover was instrumental in getting the project rolling. He did this before he became president, when he was Secretary of Commerce.
If that is true, I’m surprised there are so many daily flights from LAX to Las Vegas, plus regional airports like John Wayne and Ontario, most for around $100. I don’t see how train service can compete with the airlines, on cost, frequency of daily departures, transit time, or convenience of departure location.
They are probably worried about train robbers on the Vegas bound trains.
no threat on the homebound ones.
You’d have to update the old joke:
“I went to Vegas in a $25,000 car, and I came home on a $100,000,000 train!”
They were NOT very well utilized, or they would still be running. Duh.
You are letting your favoritism overcome your objectivity. 
You are assuming that Amtrak operates rationally. Or with an adequate budget. Neither is true. Amtrak has had to cut many successful routes in order to maintain a barebones network. The Desert Wind is a great example. For my money, it was the finest train in the country from a scenic standpoint, and almost always sold out. Amtrak canceled it so they could put the equipment on the Southwest Chief. They had been losing Superliner equipment to accidents and had no budget to replace unrepairable cars, so something had to go.
Amtrak loses money on every route they run, even, I believe, on the eastern corridor. The Vegas train was very popular, but that doesn’t enter into it. Since it wasn’t an essential part of the “nationwide network” it was axed. This is not helped by Amtrak’s vision of itself as a “transportation” company. Why take tourists to Vegas when important businessmen have to get from LA-San Diego! Better to use that equipment on the San Diegans! :rolleyes:
Well, if you mean that passengers can walk down the aisle without being hurled into someone’s lap, or sit in the lounge and sip a drink without it careening off the tray table, I guess it is a “gimmick”. Practically, the Talgo allows for an extra 10 mph. Typical speed limit boards in a twisty area might by Freight- 30 mph, Passenger- 40 mph, Talgo- 50 mph.
In any case, most of the LA-Vegas track is straight as a laser. The Talgo technology would only save them time in the Cajon pass, maybe a few minutes. A waste as far as I’m concerned. Just run Amfleet.
/BIG train nerd here