Now Obama Wants To Build A $5 Billion Bullet Train From Las Vegas To Nowhere

[FarCenter]

VICTORVILLE, Calif. (AP) -- On a dusty, rock-strewn expanse at the edge of the Mojave Desert, a company linked to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants to build a bullet train that would rocket tourists from the middle of nowhere to the gambling palaces of Las Vegas.

Privately held DesertXpress is on the verge of landing a $4.9 billion loan from the Obama administration to build the 150 mph train, which could be a lifeline for a region devastated by the housing crash or a crap shoot for taxpayers weary of Washington spending.

The vast park-and-ride project hinges on the untested idea that car-loving Californians will drive about 100 miles from the Los Angeles area, pull off busy Interstate 15 and board a train for the final leg to the famous Strip.

Planners imagine that millions of travelers a year will one day flock to a station outside down-on-its-luck Victorville, a small city where shuttered storefronts pock the historic downtown.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/bullet-train-from-las-vegas-to-nowhere-2012-3

It would be less expensive and create more jobs if they opened some casinos in LA.

[Drale]

1. Why wouldn't they just make the train go all the way to LA? /nt

[cherokeeprogressive]

5. My guess is because of the Cajon Pass.

It's a 3.0% grade through a bottleneck and trains typically manage 14 to 22 mph (23 to 35 km/h) ascending and between 20 and 30 mph (32 and 48 km/h) while descending.

[FarCenter]

6. 150 mph trains require special railways and complete grade separation from streets and highways

Bullet trains can go up and down grades too steep for slow speed freights, but the radius of any bend must be larger. So the roadbeds are generally incompatible.

You don't want a bullet train hitting a loaded semi at a grade crossing at 150 mph, so all road crossings have to be separated by bridges and overpasses.

Bottom line is that you can't afford it.

[Codeine]

29. A mountain range. nt

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. I doubt this will fly..........

[izquierdista]

4. I hope not!

Trains are safer if they stay on the ground, on their tracks.

[Codeine]

30. Nice!

[OmahaBlueDog]

3. "Planning" high speed rail on behalf of governments is quite the cottage industry

"Building" is another topic entirely.

While I think a bullet train or maglev from LA to Vegas would be a good idea, I think the casino owners should be uptting up that money. JMHO.

[anti-alec]

7. 150MPH?

Still cheaper to fly from Denver to Vegas..

Call me when it's 300mph and it's nonstop.

[lib2DaBone]

8. We need high speed rail...

..except the oil companies and politicians control the dialog.

Romney said his first order of business will be to kill AMTRAK....

When that happens.. the USA will be the only industrialized country in the WORLD without a passenger rail service.

USA.....USA...... we're Number 3.. we're number 3.... we're number 3...

[FarCenter]

11. High speed rail is roughly as energy efficient as airplanes

Steel wheel on steel rail is extremely efficient at low speeds when measured in energy/ton-miles.

However, the actual efficiency of high-speed rail in energy / passenger-miles is not outstanding.

High-speed rail tends to run by schedule for convenience with relatively low load factors on non-peak runs. On runs with multiple intermediate stops, passengers embark and debark midway, also reducing load factor. This, plus the high ratio of vehicle weight / passenger eats up a lot of the presumed efficiency.

Also, high-speed rail requires very high power motors and there is considerable aerodynamic drag on the train sets. The train sets are generally only several cars long, unlike freights that can be over a mile long. Freights also run about 45 mph, so aerodynamic drag is low.

[JDPriestly]

15. High-speed rail will make the switch to fuel other than oil more

easily than air will. Besides, airports are way out of the way for urban travelers and in addition to being inconvenient are overcrowded.

Judging from the numbers of people traveling on the train in Southern California, high-speed rail would be very popular.

Seniors and disabled people especially enjoy the comfort of the wider seats and larger bathrooms on trains. I love traveling by train and hate traveling all crumpled up and squeezed on a plane.

[Art_from_Ark]

22. I don't know where you got your information from, but

Last edited Mon Mar 26, 2012, 06:47 AM - Edit history (1)

I don't think it is correct. According to this web site, the per-person fuel efficiency for a full 500-passenger jumbo jet is only approximately 29km per liter of fuel. The more efficient B777 is 45km per liter.

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/ishinomakoto200/e/f71ab5588d64e0d08507433dfce34b47

In contrast, the equivalent per-person fuel efficiency for an all-electric 16-car, 1300-passenger Japanese bullet train (Hikari class) running the 300-mile length of track between Osaka and Tokyo (approximately 6 stops along the way) is calculated as being 62.5km per liter.

If you don't think bullet trains are aerodynamic, you should take a look at this Nozomi-class train that can travel up to 180 miles per hour:

&feature=player_embedded#!

You should also take a look at some of the latest models of bullet trains that are running in Japan today:
http://www.mtm.or.jp/eng/railway/ec/500.html

[FarCenter]

28. Life-cycle assessment of high-speed rail: the case of California

http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/5/1/014003/fulltext/

And their occupancy estimates seem too high for trains running between nowhere and nowhere, considering that cost, environmental impacts, NIMBY politics, and the deteriorating economy will keep the end segments to LA and San Francisco from ever being built.

OTOH, light rail, subway, and commuter rail systems tend to be much more efficient.

Intercity buses, with 35 passengers in a vehicle getting 6 miles per gallon of diesel are quite efficient, and they are making a comeback for short intercity travel.

[Art_from_Ark]

36. Your assessment may be true for a desert bullet train

Just a Victorville-Las Vegas line could never be cost effective. However, bullet trains in more heavily populated corridors could be.

[msongs]

9. let Las Vegas pay for it all out of its obscene profits from "not rigged" gambling nt

[obey]

10. "Planners imagine"

Dreamers dream and schemers scheme.

But taxpayers pay no matter what.

[Honeycombe8]

12. Not only that. I heard that some mobster is building a casino in the middle of the desert!

Talk about nowhere! What a loon! Like anyone would go way out there in the middle of nowhere to gamble!

[Politicalboi]

17. LOL!

Just to see pictures of fruit on a wheel. And get held up by some one armed bandit. Out in the middle of nowhere. LOL!

[Ikonoklast]

13. Not gonna happen.

Love that headline, however.

Guy who wrote it is a hack.

[JDPriestly]

14. We don't need a train to Las Vegas. We need a train from LA to San Francisco, one

that goes all the way through without riders having to change to a bus.

How goofy. I do not believe this story to be true. It's too stupid.

[Initech]

16. I live in LA and I'll most likely never hear the end of thr '"Disneyland - Vegas train" jokes.

But why Victorville? You're already 1/2 way to Vegas at that point, people driving from LA/Riverside would probably just drive the whole way.

[Politicalboi]

19. Yeah I thought that too

Maybe they should have commuter trains out of LA/Riverside and Palmdale to Victorville.

[denbot]

26. Highway 15 from Victorville to Vegas can be a 150+ mile long traffic jam.

Have you ever traveled that route on a Friday or Sunday?

[ljm2002]

18. There were two plans for high-speed rail...

...from Las Vegas to California. One is the one cited in this post, a 150-mph train from LV to Victorville. The other was a much faster magnetic bullet train that went right to LA. That one was to have been financed by the Chinese, IIRC.

Harry Reid at first supported the one that went to LA; then he changed his tune and backed the Victorville route.

I think it's disgraceful. We all know that 150-mph is slow for a so-called "bullet" train; we all know that Victorville is not LA. People would have to drive 100 miles to get to the train station from LA, does that make any sense to anyone???

I so wanted the maglev train to get the nod. If they build this thing to Victorville, it will be nearly obsolete before the first trip is taken on it. They will never get the level of ridership that would be needed to make it viable. Then it will be used as an example of (a) how rail is not a viable option; and (b) how the government can't do anything right. And the sad thing is, it will be hard to refute these two arguments.

Sigh.

[KeepItReal]

20. If I've driven 100 miles from Santa Monica to Victorville...

I've already negotiated the nightmare of crossing LA and the Inland empire. The next couple of hours on I-15 to Las Vegas is the EASY PART.

Bring that train to West LA or even Downtown and if the ticket is cheaper than airfare, they'll get plenty of business.

[Firebrand Gary]

21. As a Californian, no mag lev, NO DEAL!

People here are already PISSED off that HSR is still not off the ground. Many people were excited about the LA to LV mag lev train and the moment that the ball was dropped, we went into a frenzy! What a huge letdown...

More steel on steel, what a fucking joke!

[Nye Bevan]

23. That is one of the stupidest ideas I have ever heard.

Almost nobody will drive part of the way, park, and take the train the rest of the way. Who's going to want to unload the luggage from their car and schlepp it onto the train, in desert heat, when they could just drive the rest of the way in air-conditioned comfort, without having to worry about how to get from the train station to their hotel?

Stupid, stupid stupid. Dumb way to waste $5 billion. Even worse than the ill-fated Orlando to Tampa train idea.

[Chan790]

24. I dunno, works elsewhere including CT and NYC.

People from all over CT commute to New Haven or Waterbury daily to get on the M-N New Haven line to ride into GCT--NYC. Standing room only during AM/PM rush, still packed just about every inbound train during non-rush and weekends. I'd much rather schlepp luggage on desert heat than Northeastern chills and snow. In fact, it works so well that the states of NY, CT and MA have committed to spend almost 20B$ over a decade to completely replace and extend the line to Springfield MA (to connect with local service to Boston) via New Britain, Hartford, Windsor Locks/Bradley Intl. Airport and add 10 additional trains daily.

Most passengers on the Hudson Line as-well are park-and-ride.

[Nye Bevan]

25. Commuter rail into NYC is not really comparable to this proposal.

Traffic into New York is always horrible, parking there costs an absolute fortune, and the commuters are not carrying luggage.

[Raine]

27. People who live in San Bernadino might use it, there are people that live there too.

Not that it will ever happen anyway, it's all just "pie in the sky".

[newspeak]

31. we have a lot of people who come from california to las vegas

it seems LA to LV would have been a better deal. However, my daughter and SIL are supposed to be transferred near victorville and for me, it would be great to have a train to victorville. Of course, it would only be a convenience to someone who has family in LV or near victorville.

The bullet from LA to LV was a better deal, because the freeway coming and going from LA gets very crowded, especially during the weekends.

[dixiegrrrrl]

32. Republicans for Reid helped Reid win the election in 2010???!!!

That sure explains a lot about Reid's decisions as Senate leader.

"Reid initially backed a rival project that planned to use magnetic power to reach Orange County,
but he jumped trains shortly after Rogich became co-chair of Republicans for Reid, a Nevada group with ties to the gambling industry that helped Reid win re-election in 2010."

So, around 5 billion of tax dollars in loans so a Republican run private enterprise can make a profit.

[FSogol]

33. Wow, you managed to bash Obama, Reid, and mass transit in one post while

wishing for casinos in LA. Guess busboy and waitress jobs are better than engineering jobs, huh?

[LadyHawkAZ]

34. They've been blathering on about this for 20 years

Never gonna happen.

It's not unique to Obama though. It's been the big coming attraction since at least Clinton.

[Javaman]

35. This is nothing new...

a "high speed train" has been floated since I lived out in L.A. in the early '90's and probably before that.

it pops up now and then.

blaming it all on Obama is plain ridiculousness.