Reader Poll
Which Vegas-to-LA train proposal do you think would be most successful?
Response | Votes | ||
---|---|---|---|
DesertXpress | 10% | 272 | |
Maglev | 44% | 1191 | |
X Train | 36% | 980 | |
Z-Train | 2% | 69 | |
None of them. | 7% | 194 | |
Total Votes | 2706 |
Note: This is not a scientific poll. The results reflect only the opinions of those who chose to participate.
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Of all the proposals, DesertXPress is the right synthesis of technology and reality. High speed at an achievable cost and within a reasonable timeline.
Patience will ultimately connect Victorville to L.A., making the entire itinerary complete within half the projected time needed to build the absurdly expensive Maglev.
The one I think would be most successful is the one they freaking get around to actually building instead of just constantly talking about it.
DesertXPress is a con job. A bunch of good ole boys in it to make money off the government and through land purchases and dealings. NO rational person can say that DesertXPress is the better choice. Higher maintenance costs. Greater impact on the environment. Destination challenges. Then you have Sig and Harry in it for their own gain.
Xtrain has the best chance as it's currently being built. We don't have to wait around for decades of environmental impact studies and the inevitable political wrangling to make it happen.
With DesertXPress working at full speed to complete, the Xtrain will have already been running for several years.
Moving people quickly from one airport to another using electricity is a great idea. Sure the air carriers would hate it at first due to the competition but why would they not actually get on board with it and invest. Using a maglev from LAX to LAS has to be more efficient than having people waiting for a transfer for hours and hours. Also run some routes from New York, Chicago, Denver to a southern airport for winter delays.
The parking, security and buildings are already there and being paid for by the carriers. They could get some income from those who are afraid of flying. They could use it as part of their "cap and trade" offsets.
If someone with vision would take the lead on this, it could be the beginning of a new age for distance travel.
Run the Maglev in the already established power line corridor through the desert (reduced environmental impact studies).
How successful is Amtrack or the existing Vegas monorail? Get the idea, trains are out!
I regularly drive from LA to LV and would welcome a more comfortable trip. The XTrain looks like it can achieve this SOON with out the need to invest in expensive infrastructure like the others. They can then focus on a better experience - good job and I can't wait.
The "X" Train Rocks! Maglev is a mere Pipe Dream don't waste your votes on the others! Vote For The X!!!
I can't believe 344 people wasted votes on Maglev. It will never happen. The Sierra Club will never let it happen. Plus, the funding for it was pulled. Come on people get with the program, it is not all about speed. Hell, I wish the trip took 8 Hours, More time to party on the train you fools! So go back to your Star Trek Conventions you Maglev loving cyber nerds, The X is where it is at!!!
A press release went out today regarding that LA to Vegas train. So, this is the maglev? No. The DesertXPress to Victorville? Nope. This is the briefly-mentioned-on-Curbed "X" train, which will travel on existing Union Pacific tracks between the two cities and start service by 2011, according to operators. The publicly-traded, Delaware-based Las Vegas Railway Express, Inc. already has executives, financial advisers, a purchased passenger railcar, and a website that plays Gap Band's "Party Train." This may be the best train in the world.
Taken from http://la.curbed.com
Come check this out! http://www.XTrainRadio.com how cool is that! Take That Maglev and Others!
I am tired of being on the hook for all these government wild-eyed ideas.
Where is the question- Is ANY high speed train worth sticking the taxpayers with what it will cost?
Who gets the benefit and who has the cost? Tell, me, who in LA is going to pile into a car, drive to victorville, get on a train and leave their car there, only to get to vegas and have to take cabs around vegas and haul luggage.
This whole idea is nuts.
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Keep Voting for the X !!! Maglev will never be built nor will the others!!!
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I see 404 people must be smoking wacky weed wasting their votes on Maglev! LOL Come on Vote for the X, it is real!!!
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WoodyNelson, even if the X-Train IS real, it will NOT be a true viable alternative to using the 15 freeway. It will take 5-5 1/2 hours to go from LA to LV, and vice versa, compared to the less than 1 1/2 hour commute via the Maglev. The Maglev would have transfer stations at ARTIC and Ontario Airport for those on both legs of the CHSR system.
I wish it took 8 hours, it is not about speed it is about leisure and a party it is not for everyone and the maglev will never happen it is just a pipe dream. sometimes you just have to slow down and enjoy the ride. if i had the choice of maglev or x train i would choose the x every time.
moving 500 to 800 or more passengers with one train is better for the enviorment too. less cars less pollution less wear and tear on the roads etc. the other prob with the pipe dream fabled maglev is as it is magnet levitation it has a really bad impact on the enviorment from the magnetics etc too. plus unless you are walt disney and this is the 1960s the cost of a 300 mile monorail in essence is absured. quit fighting the x train it is real and will be here before you know it and the others are total jokes...Buy your tickets as soon as they go on sale as i have a feeling there will be a waiting list...
Woody works for the XTrain so he is hardly objective.
People used to like the idea of riding the stage coach instead of the train for the same trip.
Faster is better. Especially for a weekend trip.
No I do not work for the X Train
The right choice is crystal clear -- be it for creating jobs, reducing trip time, or attracting riders/visitors. Compared to any of the other options, Maglev will: 1) create ten times as many good jobs; 2) get folks from the LA Basin to Las Vegas four times as fast; and attract far more visitors, as well as business commuters. [Imagine being able to zip into Las Vegas just for one evening to take in a dinner show and some gaming.] Plus, Maglev on-time reliability will be much higher, and its running costs and environmental impacts notably lower, than for any of the others.
You Truly are a moron Mutt, the train trip becomes part of the vacation and there is no Maglev, Flying in a post 911 world takes longer and is way more expensive and gas aint exactly cheap and with all the socialist spending going on right now taxes are going to eat us alive with $6 a gallon Obama Gas!
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Maglev would be the most successful option. Contrary to previous comments, the Maglev technology is already here, and is successful. In fact, there were a lot of lessons learned and improved upon from Shanghai's already successful Maglev (transporting visitors from the airport to the Shanghai metro, in less than 8 mins, which I've been on). The new Maglev introduces a better system of reliability because the power lines are protected from severe weather events. With high-speed rail, the powering of the line relies on overhead electrical wiring.
The X-train is a joke. No one would spend 5.5 hrs to take a train when you can drive the distance in the same amount of time. The whole premise of the "X-train" (sports bar, entertainment, and gambling on the train) will ultimately get old and become just a backdrop for passengers. It's old technology, using dying energy resources, hiding behind fake glitz and glamor. Save the tourist attractions and entertainment for Las Vegas itself. Transportation is ALL about speed, and convenience. The X-train would be a step backwards in the development of the thriving and growing Southwest.
Maglev is now comparable, if not cheaper, to build than existing High-speed Rail, it can run in all sorts of inclement weather due to its frictionless operation and has dramatically lower operations and maintenance costs at all speeds, why would we pursue anything less? If China can do it (since 2004), we should do it even better right?
Here is a reality check for you Maglev and Desert or shall I say Victorville Express and what ever the hell kind of scam that Z-Train is this week at an accounting shop that will probably turn into a taco stand next week. None, and I repeat NONE of them have anything going on except a lot of hot air. The only one that is real is the X. Still need further proof? Does Mag or Xpress or Zipper down have a Facebook Fan Page that is active? NO! Only the X Train does and it is growing rapidly and it is kept current. My bet is the others might have a Myspace Page! LOL and we all know how bad that sucks! Join up with the Facebook Fan Page there is a link to it right on the http://www.VegasXTrain.com website. Case Closed Now quit wasting your votes and join the Party!
C'mon Woody, honestly you have no financial connection to X Train?
I suppose that if there's a party to and from Vegas, I should be at least happy I don't live at the California end of the "experience" where these travelling partiers are getting off the train and into their cars after 5 hours to drive home.
Long term solution is to move forward, not go back.
How about a mass transit system that funtions well enough that you can leave your car at home?
The X train is a novelty, nothing more, similar to the train at the Grand Canyon.
It will open, operate and quickly/ quietly go out of business. No one is interested in throwing public money away on a "Disney" ride.
No None whatsoever Mutt
It looks like the Maglev and the others are on the fast track to nowhere while the X Train gains momentum and is bout to pass the Monorail in voting! Take that Harry Reid! Oh wait, he is working on that Teleporter with Mr Spock so you can get beamed to Vegas but he had better watch out Al Gore or Obama might take credit for it! Vote now for the X Train at http://www.VegasXTrain.com
I voted for the maglev even though no one has explained how it is going to get over the mountains.
"doman:"
Your pro Maglev arguments vs. 'X Train' are all "SPOT ON!" Also, the steep grades exiting the LA Basin that require 'Desert Xpress' to terminate in Victorville won't phase Maglev's speed and performance at all. Regardless of weather, its arrival times can be accurately scheduled to the
minute. Plus, it can readily accommodate cargo cars suitable for reliably and cost-effectively handling next-day mail and produce shipments, thus further reducing freeway congestion (truck traffic).
Maglev is a joke, it will never happen! This just in take a look at this well known TV Host featuring the X Train on his TV Show!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHW5TgWVl...
Now, go vote for the X Train!!!
Well then I can only conclude that you are some kind of X Train Zealot.
Wow there is a term from the middle ages, where are the serfs and the lords? LOL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHW5TgWVl...
The Poll Question posed is which proposal would be MOST successful, steel wheel-on-rail (DesertXpress, X Train, Z-Train) or Maglev, with all criteria for measuring success left undefined. That's like asking which is the best way to get from NYC to Europe - first class ocean or air travel? Clearly, it depends upon the purpose of the trip and the travel time available. Each mode has its own market and success potential. There may well be some market demand for a leisurely cruise-type experience in traveling by rail from between LA and Vegas - a decidedly different marketplace. However traveling by Maglev literally is like flying comfortably and fearlessly at 300+ mph without seat-belts, riding unfazed by turbulent weather on an ever-smooth cushion of air, and quickly arriving reliably right on time. Measured in terms of the several success-defining criteria I referenced in my previous two 'Comments', the PROVEN Maglev technology and traveler experience is a hands-down WINNER!
DesertXPress will be the only train moving five years from now. Believe it.
We all ready have a train to nowhere it is called the monorail. What a waste of public money. Another riderless train in the desert.
"DesertXPress will be the only train moving five years from now. Believe it."
No, it won't. I've already been told on the blog "Curbed LA" by someone that is closely involved with the project that it's gonna break ground in March 2011; they just haven't publicly announced it yet.
By then, the Environmental Draft Study for the Maglev will have been completed, and it will be ready to break ground.
By the time the other 2 even think of breaking ground the X Train will have been running for awhile and will capture the market sector it caters too. The other 2 will be miserable failures. The downfall of the Desert Express is it starts in Victorville. That is just STUPID!
WoodyNelson, it's clear that you have some kind of connection with the XTrain. I'm actually excited about the XTrain and have been following it since it started as a Facebook announcement last year. It is, however, just a novelty when compared to the high speed trains that are being discussed. I believe that the XTrain people have even conceded that they are not trying to compete with DesertXPress or Maglev.
JDRCrasher, Maglev will not be up and running for many years. Again, even Maglev admits as much. I'm not waiting close to a decade for an absurdly expensive Maglev.
DesertXPress' Victorville problem is temporary--it will travel from that small desert town to Vegas early on but will inevitably connect to L.A. It's privately funded and will have a major head start on Maglev.
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"DesertXPress' Victorville problem is temporary--it will travel from that small desert town to Vegas early on but will inevitably connect to L.A."
Even if the Palmdale extension is built, it will STILL take an hour longer from Vegas to Ontario and Anaheim than using the Maglev.
"It's privately funded and will have a major head start on Maglev."
Last I heard, 80% of DesertXpress' funds are coming from the feds..
Pure and simple, the "X" Train is real, the others are proposals! Vote for The "X" !
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X Marks the spot!!!!
Go X Go!!!
Do the cost/benefit analysis. They say the DesertXpress will take 84mins (about 1.5 hours) to make the trip from Victorville and cost $50 one way. I don't know what the price would be for the CANV-MAGLEV tickets, but I'm pretty sure the trip from Anaheim would take about 1.5 hours, so I'll assume the tickets are about the same price, $50.
So if you lived in Anaheim and wanted to go to Vegas you would compare the cost of driving versus the cost of taking the train and how much time it would save you. I'll spare you the math, but if you assume an average full economy of the car then you'll arrive at the following conclusion.
The total round trip travel time for the Maglev would be 3 hours at a cost of $100. The Desert Express would be a total travel time of 6 hours and cost about $120 (adding in the cost of driving to and from Victorville). If you were to drive, it would be about 8 hours (both ways remember) and cost you $60.
So, for a round trip with the MAGLEV each hour of travel time you save compared to driving would cost you $10 but with DesertXpress each hour of travel time you would save would cost you $30. If the ticket prices of the MAGLEV were instead $100 each way then each hour of travel time you save compared to driving would cost you about $30. And I won't even bother to compare these figures with the X and Z trains. The X train would be $200 round trip and take 10 hours round trip" Give me a break!
The winner is clear, it's the MAGLEV, even if the tickets were twice the price of the Desert Express it would still have the added WOW factor of being a MAGLEV.
The X Train is real, the others are not, sorry to all of you soreheads that cannot accept reality!
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