DesertXpress plan doesn’t get the job done

Mark Kostner, Las Vegas

Sunday, June 21, 2009 | 2:03 a.m.

I am a rail enthusiast who has hoped for years that train service of some kind would be restored on the Las Vegas to Los Angeles corridor. I’d settle for Amtrak, but I have been following the high-speed rail proposals with great interest. I travel to California frequently and would certainly ride a high-speed train if it were priced reasonably.

Unfortunately this DesertXpress proposal just doesn’t do it for me. I have yet to make Victorville my destination on a California trip.

What kind of train gets you only part of the way there? Could Las Vegas have been built on this kind of service?

The thinking seems to be: If you can make it to Victorville, we’ll see to it that you can get the rest of the way here. Or, we’ll get you part of the way home; after that you’re on your own.

This proposal is quite unbecoming of a Las Vegas transportation option. Seriously, folks, how many of you would actually ride a train, no matter how modern, that only got you part of the way there?

The sensible option is to tie any proposed Las Vegas-Southern California rail line to what is being planned internally by California. Perhaps Nevada could have a representative on the California High-Speed Rail Authority.

This Victorville proposal is a white elephant. The Roy Rogers Museum isn’t even there anymore!

Ask yourself: How how many people do you know in Southern California who would trek to Victorville in a car or bus to hop aboard this train? The DesertXpress would be a deserted express.