Las Vegas Sun NewsPlanned DesertXpress high-speed train to be rebranded as XpressWest
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11 June 2012
8:35 a.m.
Representatives of DesertXpress Enterprises on Monday announced plans to rebrand the proposed high-speed rail service as XpressWest, more accurately reflecting the line’s role as the first leg of a larger passenger rail network.
There was speculation of a name change last week when DesertXpress and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority signed letters committing to work together to develop the High Desert Corridor between Victorville and Palmdale, Calif., and to use Metrolink tracks to move trains between Palmdale and downtown Los Angeles.
That plan eventually would enable two- to three-hour train service between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The company has estimated that the 185-mile Las Vegas-Victorville portion of the project would cost $6.9 billion and the 50-mile Victorville-Palmdale section $1.5 billion. The company has applied for a federal government loan through a Federal Railroad Administration program already approved by lawmakers.
DesertXpress Enterprises LLC would continue to be the corporate parent company, but the train would be referred to as XpressWest, a piece of the vision outlined by the Las Vegas-centered Western High Speed Rail Alliance.
The alliance, comprised of representatives from Nevada, Utah, Arizona and Colorado, has a long-term plan to link Las Vegas with Salt Lake City, Denver and Phoenix with high-speed rail.
“XpressWest will be the first and primary high-speed rail line into California, opening up the rest of the west for high-speed rail service,” Tom Skancke, executive director of the Western High Speed Rail Alliance, said in a statement. “The new name captures the vision of connectivity and mobility throughout the West.”
Andrew Mack, chief operating officer of XpressWest, added that the new name illustrates how the project has evolved.
“As potential for high-speed passenger rail in the Southwest has evolved, service between Las Vegas and Victorville has become a critical segment of an interconnected Southwest rail network extending to Los Angeles, Anaheim and all the cities currently served by Metrolink,” Mack said.
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Can we just call it what it is, "Harry's Kick Back to Union Buddy's that will Leave the West Bankrupt"?
No Federal money for this failure!
Assuming this "Express Train" gets built in the next century, would it not make more sense rather than going to Palmdale .. and traffic using Rte 14 to get to LA prper ...how about continueing south 50 miles to Riverside, Ontario , or even to Orange County.
I have been around long enough to hear about "high speed trains" from San Franciso to LA.(never built) Now this from Las Vegas to some city in the desert. (give it forty years in planning)
When will "OUR" bright politicians come up with a train to Hawaii. I'm sure at least one of the dummies has thought it. Trust me it would work, IN YOUR DREAMS and the TAXPAYERS MONEY POCKET
Regarding passenger service in the US - There is no reason to believe the proposed rail development, regardless of what it is called will:
1. Ever generate enough revenue to pay for its development.
2. Ever generate enough revenue to pay for its operation.
3. Ever generate enough revenue to make a profit.
4. Ever be completed.
5. Ever be anything but an ever deepening hole for taxpayers money and another cost overrun plagued, high cost maintenance nightmare.
No reason, no proof, no studies, no evidence aside from progressive utopian wishful thinking that any of that will happen.
As such, why are we even talking about worsening our financial future and that of future generations that will be saddled with this impending abject failure.
What might be supported? Maybe, rail from Vegas to San Diego, Salt Lake, Phoenix and the national network without changing trains several times, without having to drive hours to the start point; at a competitive cost to develop and maintain and at competitive prices.
Compare rail, air, bus and car for cost, convenience and time to travel and in most cases rail comes in last in all three. Rail only works when it has high daily ridership by a wide variety of people. We don't and never will have that in this country with a couple possible local exceptions. Even in the NorthEast corridor AMTRACK doesn't pay for itself and the citizens of all 50 states have to subsidize the huge losses, year after year after year. AMTACK is no better than the Post Office and offers far worse service.
Go to the websites of any bus line, any airline and AMTRACK (a government monopoly) and compare cost, time and convenience among the three. Since the 80s we have tried several times to take a train from East Coast (Raleigh, you can't get to the coast) to San Diego or LA. rather than fly or drive hoping it would be an enjoyable alternative that only involved a little more time and a reasonable increase in cost. It can't be done. Only if you're willing to sit in an economy class coach seat for 4 days and nights can you even get in the neighborhood price wise. No matter how much you pay for your tickets it takes four days, you have to switch trains in Chicago or New Orleans and stay overnight at your own expense on your own arrangements.
Tax payers will end up with the bill sooner or later. This thing will not make money, it will suck money. The route from Las Vegas to Victorville, to Palmdale, then to Los Angeles will never work. The trip would take to long, with far to many stops.
No public money! Not for a loan, not a give away, not to operate this train to nowhere.
all post are spot on so far--this thing will come in at triple the quoted budget, take four times longer to build as advertised, and lose money from the first day it is open and never make a nickel---not only will it not make money, but will be a huge money sucking pig.
I Love our town and wish that something like this would work but as Mr. Swanson has posted, it is all in the numbers.
How much is it REALLY going to cost to build?
How much is it REALLY going to cost to operate?
How much are the debt payments REALLY going to be?
Take the total and divide it by the number of people they are dreaming will use it and figure out what the trip will cost.
I am betting that if they really did that you could charter a Limo cheaper from L.A. to Vegas.
It really is to bad that the facts are not going to back up this project because the idea of it is great. In todays world it will just cost way to much to do and operate.
Regional air and even auto transportation will eventually be too expensive if and when fuel prices skyrocket permanently. This high speed rail option may actually save regional transport. Just a thought.
Rebranded???
You mean like global warming is now climate change??
Epic Fail!
to BRASS>
I do totally agree. I wasn't trying to emply that it should be built at all.
I have been on trains all over Europe. I am not familiar with their profitability. People actually do ride them .. I have always found them reliable and comfortable. Almost every small town or city is connected. I have rented cars in Europe. Towns and cities are connected by nice roads. I prefer the trains.
What we do not need here is expanding our highway system between cities from a 4-lane to a six lane .. then a 50 lane. behemouth. Bigger is not better. We do need to get the hell out of our 6-7 occupancy (single rider) mode and into a well integrated (travel) system, weather it be for commuter needs or pleasure needs.
Rebranding must be a marketing move given how unpopular the train to nowhere is. You can put lipstick on a pig, but its still a pig.
It's going to take a lot more than a name change...
By BRASS: "Even in the NorthEast corridor AMTRACK doesn't pay for itself and the citizens of all 50 states have to subsidize the huge losses, year after year after year."
First, there is no such company as Amtrack. The company is called Amtrak, no C.
Second, the name isn't the only thing you got wrong in your post. Amtrak's Northeast Corridor does cover its operating costs. Yes, it doesn't fully cover its capital costs, but then Amtrak isn't the entity running trains on the corridor. Not to mention the fact that Congress handed Amtrak the nearly 80 year old rundown & badly neglected corridor after the Pennsylvania RR went bankrupt and never gave Amtrak the money to fix it up.
But in 2010 the corridor turned a $51.5 Million operating profit on the strength of the HS Acela service which made $100.6 Million. Which proves your point #2 wrong in regard to your statement of "No reason, no proof, no studies, no evidence aside from progressive utopian wishful thinking that any of that will happen."
There is indeed evidence that HSR can make money or at least cover its operating costs.
A really fast train will obsolete auto travel.
But this train is not fast enough.
The transit time has to be 1 to 1.5 hours to make this compete with air lines and the convenience of your own car.
That is what Japan, France, Germany and China have done.
But the US is literally in the dark ages.
It's very easy to be cynical about a project like this ever becoming fiscally viable in the short term, but perhaps in the not too distant future when jet fuel prices sky rocket and Vegas becomes almost solely dependent on the domestic tourist, a fully integrated national high-speed rail service connected to the grid may be the only thing that keeps out beloved city alive.
A Harry Reid backed scam will always be a Harry Reid backed scam, no matter what you want to call it.