Las Vegas Sun

November 9, 2009

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Letter: Amtrak’s role as tourist carrier should be expanded

Sunday, Jan. 16, 2000 | 10:04 a.m.

I've read that Las Vegas gets up to 25 percent of its business from Southern California, so why don't the downtown properties work with Amtrak to offer package deals from Los Angeles? Instead of just the coaches with seats, make fun excursion trains that run Fridays toward Las Vegas, and Sundays back toward California. Put in lounge cars, entertainment, dining cars, scenic-cruiser cars, etc. Make the train ride and the hotel rooms -- maybe meals and shows, too -- one package price.

We've all seen video of the endless stream of cars on Interstate 15 at strategic times, taking up to 6 or 7 hours each way. This way the visitor could relax, even enjoy the trip. The downtown has a train station already in place at the Plaza. The various properties could arrange to pick up the luggage and deliver it to the person's room, and the transport buses could take anyone to their respective hotel that didn't want to take the stroll down Fremont. I think this could bring a lot of good business into downtown, revitalizing downtown by the simple input of cash.

RICHARD FISHBACK

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