L.A.-Vegas casino train delayed

Tuesday, Dec. 15, 1998 | 12:04 p.m.

The casino-subsidized Amtrak service between Southern California and Las Vegas due to begin in February will be delayed.

Gil Mallery, president of Amtrak West, said service now may not begin until late 1999 or early 2000. The reason: Union Pacific Railroad is requiring that $28 million in track improvements be completed before the Amtrak service can begin.

Mallery said his company was counting on being able to operate while the improvements were under way. A misunderstanding between Amtrak and Union Pacific officials led to the communications breakdown.

"We were under the assumption that as soon as we could come to an agreement on a price (to use the tracks) that we would be able to go as infrastructure improvements were ongoing," Mallery said on Monday.

He has been notifying other partners in the venture in the last three weeks about the delay.

The Amtrak proposal includes a plan to operate a high-speed "Talgo" train that could make the trip between Los Angeles and Las Vegas in 5 1/2 hours.

"Talgo" is a Spanish acronym incorporating the words tren (train), articulado (articulated -- put together by joints), ligero (light, for the low weight-to-passenger ratio), Goicoechea (the name of the engineer who invented it) and Oriol (the financier of the prototype).

Last February, Amtrak announced a $9 million commitment to upgrade tracks and build platforms to accommodate the high-tech tilt trains.

Two casinos, the Rio and the Primadonna -- which are being acquired respectively by Harrah's and MGM Grand Inc. -- initially agreed to subsidize the service since the trains would be able to stop at or near their properties.

The casino commitment amounts to a guarantee of between 70 and 80 percent of about 330 seats a day at $100 per round-trip ticket, or an investment of about $8 million.

The Talgo train service would be Amtrak's first venture into Southern Nevada since May 1997 when the company discontinued its three-times-a-week Desert Wind run, which transported passengers between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.

The 5 1/2-hour estimated run time between Los Angeles and Las Vegas is about two hours faster than the former Desert Wind Amtrak service and a half hour faster than an express bus.

On busy holiday weekends, the trip between Los Angeles and Las Vegas can take as long as 10 hours and traffic on jammed-up Interstate 15 slows to an average speed of 35 mph.

The Talgo passenger liner's tilt technology allows it to corner easier on curves, making it capable of achieving speeds of up to 120 mph. The track between Las Vegas and Los Angeles is rated only for speeds of up to 79 mph, which is why infrastructure improvements are needed.

Grade crossings are programmed with warning lights and crossing barriers activated in advance of a train's presence. If the train exceeds the 79 mph threshold, it would present a danger to motorists and pedestrians at those crossings.

Another part of the infrastructure that has to be completed -- and the sticking point between Union Pacific and Amtrak -- is a parallel line along steep grades. Mallery said that would allow the passenger train to pass slower freight trains on hills. Mallery said Union Pacific fears railroad gridlock with the addition of the Amtrak trains without the improvements.

A train set, produced specifically for the L.A.-Las Vegas run, is being built by Patentes Talgo SA of Madrid, Spain.

Talgo already has delivered a 10-car train set -- painted in a silver, black and blue scheme -- to Seattle where seats, air conditioning and other amenities are being installed.

Mallery said preparation of the train would continue despite the track delays. In addition to the casinos and the train manufacturers, Amtrak also has notified Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., a supporter of the federally subsidized Amtrak system, and Gov.-elect Kenny Guinn.

"We still believe in the (track) corridor itself," Mallery said. "The basic parameters haven't changed, so we're assuming our partners will remain supportive. It's just that this is very disappointing because we were planning to be ready to go in February. We've already got our advertising campaign ready and we were going to pass out some information (at the Governors Conference on Travel and Tourism)."

Mallery said negotiations have been ongoing for a year and a half with three groups controlling the tracks between Los Angeles and Las Vegas -- the Southern California Regional Rail Authority, the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railway and Union Pacific. The two other entities have approved Amtrak's use of the rails.

If the train project is successful, it is expected to draw 2,300 gamblers a week to Las Vegas.