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DesertXpress Enterprises, LLC.
The fully electric DesertXpress trains would reach top speeds of 150 mph and travel 184 miles from Victorville, Calif., to Las Vegas in 84 minutes.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 | 9:24 a.m.
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Sun Archives
- State sends no representative to talk on high-speed trains (6-5-2009)
- Obama outlines vision for high-speed rail network (4-16-2009)
- 8 states seek stimulus money for high-speed rail (4-15-2009)
- No waste in rail dream (3-5-2009)
- Economic crisis an opportunity to be greener (3-1-2009)
- Vegas, Midwest seek the $8 billion for fast trains (2-23-2009)
- Calif. bond would launch bullet train project (9-26-2008)
Sun coverage
WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has thrown his support behind Desert Xpress, the proposed privately financed fast train between Las Vegas and Southern California, all but dooming chances for a competing Maglev system.
Reid’s office confirms a brief report in today’s Los Angeles Times that the senator prefers the traditional rail project to the magnetic levitation train he has championed for years.
Reid believes Desert Xpress has “made more progress in the last couple of years than Maglev has made in the past 30,” said his spokesman Jon Summers.
“He wants to see something done.”
The reversal comes at a critical juncture, as Maglev developers hoped to secure part of the historic $8 billion investment the Obama administration is making in high-speed rail.
Maglev representatives met recently with Transportation Secretary Ray La Hood to make their case, in a meeting arranged by Reid.
But Reid has been moved by Desert Xpress’ swift progress.
The company backed by political mogul Sig Rogich has financed its own environmental studies, and developers believe they can break ground next year. A previously announced groundbreaking was postponed.
Reid was also impressed by Desert Xpress’ private financing, saying the project wouldn’t be as dependent on public funds as the Maglev train, Summers said.
In the past, Reid has championed Maglev, helping to secure $45 million in federal planning funds for the project in 2008.
“If it’s going to be really done in a big way, a Las Vegas way, the magnetic levitation would be the way to do it,” Reid said at the time. “If we can get this done, it will be the showboat of the world.”
Losing the support of the powerful majority leader could be difficult for the Maglev project, which has been promoted by a state commission and a consortium of private builders.
Among Desert Xpress’ chief backers is Rogich, among Republicans in Nevada who have announced their support for Reid’s re-election in 2010. Rogich announced his support for Reid in February.
Reid’s spokesman downplayed the connection, saying the senator has worked in Nevada for decades, and is “connected to people on just about every side of every issue.”
As long as Las Vegas can get a train rolling again I do not care if it runs on rails or magnets... This is great news all around...
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/04/2...
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_...
Articles on the "moderate" speed rail plans...its nothing more than corporate welfare for the rich.
right. going to be a waste of money. but glad it is a waste of a private company's money, instead of ours.
Though, i am skeptical that it is just private money. i would bet that we would be fitting the bill also.
Actually this is not "great news all around". What the article fails to mention is that the Desertxpress will only travel to Victorville. Now forgive me for being cynical but Victorville isn't exactly a destination. If you're only going to be taken halfway to L.A., why not drive to begin with? The rail project was intended to stimulate the movement of money and to create jobs. A route to Victorville will doom the train to becoming nothing more than an alternate bus route. The Maglev is more environmentally friendly, faster, and by connecting to Anaheim would make more sense for Las Vegas and Orange County. Reid has become yet another lump of deadwood in Congress. He is more interested in getting the support of local monied powerbrokers than doing what makes the most sense for his state and the country. This is yet another sad failure of what should have been a great project.
Well its about time.
We need something to get away from our automobile and giving our money to the Sada Arabia, Iran, and Iraq, etc.!
This is a great step to energy independence! Wake up jerks amd invest in our country.
This better be USA -American design and built! No more cheap Canadian or French or German trash.
Isn't it interesting that Reid switched trains now after supporting the Maglev for so long. Could it be that he has chosen the DesertXpress since Sid Rogich is now a big supporter for his re-election bid along with a bunch of rich business buddies in Nevada!!!
Not a bad idea, except Victorville?
harry is out buying support for election. He is willing to change horses to garner support from a republican business ready to reap billions in profits. Hope and change, not with harry, sold to the highest bidder, as usual.
Oh yea, I want to go Victorville. Don't you?
Unless it gets me to downtown LA or Orange County, its worthless - regardless of who its funded by, who supports it or what technology it uses.
"Among Desert Xpress' chief backers is Rogich, among Republicans in Nevada who have announced their support for Reid's re-election in 2010.
"Rogich announced his support for Reid in February."
Reid'em and Weep could be happier to pay back a supporter.
If the train is only going into Victorville, it will only benefit the southern Californians who are going to visit LV........it won't help many soujtern Nevadans, unless their destination is the Victorville area.....to go on into the LA basin or OC, SD, then you have to rent a car in Victorville and take it from there.
But even if this will really only benefit one way travel, it will reduce the number of vehicles on I-15, which does have some benefit for southern Nevadans heading down I-15 to LA, OC & SD
Where would it end in LV? Would you have stops on strip and downtown and remote car rental lot (access to airport and visitors who need local transportation)?
Of course ending in tourist areas of Southern Cal makes the most sense than Victorville.
Stops should be at the Downtown transportation center (Downtown hotels and access to bus system), somewhere on the West side of the strip along the RR tracks near Rio with people movers built to move to casinos, and car rental center to connect airport and local transportation option. Just don't end it on the strip or worse in the desert requiring people to transfer again to get into town.
This is the STUPIDEST ideas I've heard in years! If you're going to drive to Victorville from LA, you've already driven the worst leg. So you'll get on a train and take it the rest of the way, which is usually an easy drive? Is there anyone paying attention here???????
There exists a perfectly fine rail line going directly through Las Vegas now. Another new rail line would be redundant and unnecessary. In order to find out if there is ridership available, I would suggest that Desert Xpress or any company to lease passenger cars and rail access from AMTRAK to conduct a trial to see where or if train passengers are out there. As part of the trial, do some real marketing to promote the rail service. Offer some amenities, two for one coupons, reasonable prices, attractive scheduling, etc. to generate interest and even attract addition private funding.
Of course, if the current proposal for half a train service was to get into financial trouble, Desert Xpress can get Harry Reid to get them a federal (taxpayer) bailout. Maybe that's the real agenda.
One more reason we need to vote Harry out!
what a COLOSSAL waste of our tax money!!!
when u consider the cost of paying to park your vehicle, then rent another one in victorville, it will both cost more AND take longer to ride this train on a trip to southern california than driving the whole way!
one more example of why BIG government is BAD government. our current "leaders" will spend as much of our money as they can, as fast as they can, not unlike drunken sailors on a binge.
MagLev is the future and would make Vegas even more of a world class city.
Why waste money on yesterday's technology which is slower, less safe, and WONT EVEN GO WHERE IT NEEDS TO????
Harry Reid is dreaming (re-election) about this project. California is much further along with an 800 mile high speed rail from Sacramento to San Diego.
Joe Biden is behind it, California voted to be taxed for it and Nancy Pelosi (Reids boss) has even arranged a spur off the main route to her home San Francisco.
Perhaps if Reid can get elected four or more terms he might see this LV to VV project while still in office.
http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/
A vital part of this story is that Victorville is just the first leg for the DesertXpress high speed train. The second leg is 50 miles west to Palmdale, which has been approved by California voters as the new hub for the entire Caltrans train system. That would mean that from nearly anywhere in California, a person could take the train to and from Las Vegas.
Additionally, the Environmental Impact Statement for DesertXpress has taken several years to complete. And that was done over mostly bare desert land. Can you imagine what it would take to do an Environmental Impact Statement through the Los Angeles basin. It could take up to 15 years to complete the same study for all the towns and cities and municipalities on the way to Los Angeles.
Currently the only maglev in the world is in Shanghai, China and the only manufacturer of parts and maintenance in Germany has closed its doors because the economic model simply does not work. So in other words, there is no one to service maglev trains and all factory parts have now been sold to China.
At a cost of close to $40 billion in public funds, the maglev would become the single largest transportation project in American history. After 31 years of studying maglev, it's time to move onto something that can work and can work now. And that is not and never will be Maglev.
Victorville is not perfect, but it is a good start. Harry Reid should be commended for a plan to help Las Vegas when it needs it most.
50$ one way.
3$ a gallon gas, and a car that gets 30mpg highway: $20.
Well, I won't be riding this until gas gets very expensive or the fare gets cheaper. Can't justify the more than double cost + the fact that the time spent waiting for the train will likely mean the drive will take roughly the same amount of time as the train... and of course, the train doesn't go where I and most people want it to.
Could be a good idea in the future but there's not an incentive for me to ride it.
Desert Xpress' tagline "Victorville, more fun than Baker".
Victorville? Really? They can't come up with a better plan? Nobody goes to california to visit Victorville! It's so rediculous it seems like a joke. I wish the people involved in this project had a little common sense. Take the train to Orange County and LA or it will fail!!
Quid Pro Quo
The first thing I thought about when I heard this story was what happens to the 8 billion now that it is not needed for this projuect. Does it get to stay in NV for other projects or is it going to be added to someone's campaign fund. Hey I have a great idea. Lets give it to ACORN
The concorde was more advanced, but it was a flop compare to the 747, people don't need to go that fast for a 250-300 mile SOCAL to Vegas trip, when they stop improving and widening I15 and gas is $5 a gallon, with a "miles driven tax" to boot, people will take the train...
The Reid Railroad has a nice ring to it..and the obamas will break ground and cut the ribbon ...
the existing rail line trial run is a good idea but that track is clogged with freight trains
we should fund this project by a cylinder tax on cars with more than 4 cylinders and an "air polution tax" on conservative talk radio stations.
Well, a few comments are intelligent - it appears from these comments that in fact the train will be hooked up with other California trains. It is private money. If they can get it to work here you might think of the implications for other long distance travel. Ok, so keep the faith! And get on a train. Oh, the 8 billion or whatever for a meglev train was never committed to this project and you know we do live in a larger community and you can improve and make useful lots of transportation service for that money! Go Harry!
Now you know why Rogich supports Reid. Follow the money. You people are so stupid you keep voting these clowns into office. I'm sure you'll support Rory Jr for Governor. After all you voted that clown for President. Stupid, stupid Nevada liberal voter. You get what you deserve. Notice the price of gas lately. That windmill is going to look good on top of your SUV.
It will be years before anything is even built on this. There are way too many pockets to pad,and way to many reports to be written before it will show up! And then by that time something new will come along,and we ll end up with a white elephant! enviormentaly reports,give me a break! Build it right next to 15 to victorville. Build a shoot off to palmdale. They already have the ok for a major traffic stop. Then build a shoot off from victorville to orange county.Can get supplies right to where the work is and would take no time? But who are we kidding here,it makes too much sense and saves too much money.Not to mention,it would put too many americans back to work to fast,and off the government food lines,and help!
monorail, part 2.
Leave it to Reid to back the WRONG train project.
Victorville? hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
There should be a train from downtown LA to vegas, no stops, straight through. Not Victorville!
Quid Pro Quo
High speed trains are nothing but airplanes without wings that have to have a track and land under the track to get to where they are going. The airplane, on the other hand, only needs 10,000 feet of runway on both ends. High speed trains require that they be separated from other modes of transportation. The airplane already does that with things called wings. Furthermore, airplanes have a superior consumption of BTUs per passenger mile over trains.
The trains, maglev or otherwise, are not natural competitors to airplanes until the government goes in and puts subsidies on the train. The French subsidize their train service by pegging prices to AIRPLANE TICKETS! The Japanese, who have the best train system in the world, are finding that people prefer using their cars and will, at tremendous expense, use them rather than take the train.
I have noticed lately that all economic data seems to be left out of articles like this to prevent anyone from reverse engineering the real cost and coming up with a back-of-the-napkin guess at the average ticket price. It may be rude to look a gift horse in the mouth but, I suspect that once this thing is built, the Feds will be too broke to keep up with the vet bills.
Any honest guess of the number of jobs created would require subtracting the number of jobs lost in the airline industry.
Too many politicians and political consultants involved means too many payoffs will need to be made. Even grade-schoolers know that transportation systems are designed to connect at least two major population centers and Victorville doesn't qualify. Stop this boondoggle before it starts.
The problem I have with Reid's flip-flop is the $45M in US taxpayer funds he secured for Maglev. If Maglev can't move forward without Reid's support, then the millions in our taxes that he spent on Maglev are wasted just because he changed his political alignment!
We should let this be a lesson that taxes should not be gambled on whimsical dreams - only public projects that will definitely come to fruition and benefit the public. Let the private sector invest in the planning of risky projects.
Since when did Victorville become a destination? Clearly, the most critical section of a Anaheim/LA/LV run is the section between Anaheim and Victorville and surely the most costly. The DesertXpress train system to Victorville is estimated to have a price tag of $3 to $4 billion and is being promoted as privately funded with an investment of $25 million, when in reality much of the money will come from you know who. Clearly, a MagLev system would be more costly at $12 billion or more, but it would also go to Anaheim. More importantly it would break with a trend towards mediocrity and poor planning, providing a critical and a badly needed commuter link for all cities along the line (stops need to be added to the current MagLev plan including Victorville and Stateline). Certainly, shifting the regional commerce center from LA to Anaheim has created a bureaucratic power play, which has resulted in poor focus, a lack of interest and funding and of course delays. These delays are the justification for the poorer DesertXpress system gaining media traction and Senetor Reid shifting his support from the MagLev to the DesertXpress. With a transit speed of 125mph, the DesertXpress travels at 75mph less than Europe 25 plus year old TGV system. Moreover, Amtrak's Acela Express regularly travels along the Northeast Corridor's 75 year old rail beds at 150mph. The DesertXpress is antiquated and it has been built. What promoters of the DesertXpress proposal must see is a system that avoids Orange County / LA County, smoothing the way to easy approval and substandard service, while pumping dollars out of public coffers. On the other hand, a revolutionary MagLev would generate more than jobs by building an industry, not just a railroad. A MagLev system would once again place the U.S. at the forefront of transportation technology. Why then are the politicos supporting the train to nowhere?
Ending this line in Victorville must be someone's idea of a joke. Should we call this Monorail II? Another boondoggle in the making.
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