Xpress West

[Ryan]

Sure it does. It highlights the absurdity of expecting passenger rail to pay for itself and helps people get rid of the misguided notion that it should.

 

[leemell]

Well. there may be some movement with the Xpresswest/Desertxpress. It seems that A. Mack the CEO (?) of the XP/DE will be briefing the CA HSR Authority Board at their next meeting.

 

[CHamilton]

Will California’s First High Speed Train go to Las Vegas?

It is looking more and more that California’s first High Speed Train will go to Las Vegas. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, a major supporter of California- Las Vegas High Speed Rail service, says he has been talking with Governor Brown about the future of California-Las Vegas High Speed Rail. Senator Reid has said that an announcement about a new financial plan for the project will be made soon that will get Las Vegas High Speed Rail back on track.

 

[XHRTSP]

Are we talking about Xpress here are a DOT operation? And if the latter, what's the obstacle to at least using some of the new bi levels to put together a conventional train over the Desert Wind route while they build the HSR?

 

[rrdude]

Are we talking about Xpress here are a DOT operation? And if the latter, what's the obstacle to at least using some of the new bi levels to put together a conventional train over the Desert Wind route while they build the HSR?

Who gonna pay for dat?

 

[Andrew]

If you folks had to honestly predict do you think that:

Xpress West will begin construction in the next few years

OR

Xpress West will never get built?

 

[rrdude]

If you folks had to honestly predict do you think that:

Xpress West will begin construction in the next few years

OR

Xpress West will never get built?

the latter............

 

[XHRTSP]

Who gonna pay for dat?

Harry Reid, dat's who dat.
Assuming he has the political capitol to get HSR funded, what's stopping him from a cheaper and, in my opinion at least, adequate conventional line in the intern? Or is this simply going to be a go big or go home situation?

 

[George Harris]

Go big and do it on someone else's money. That is the mantra of Las Vegas. Everything about it is built on money scammed out of someone else. What else do you call encouraging gambling? It is making people think that if they go to Vegas and gamble they will come away with more money than they took, when if they had an IQ above that of a cabbage they would realize that all the glitz in Vegas was built with money people lost gambling.

Xpress West either ends in the middle of nowhere or ties into the Calif. HSR in the general location of Palmdale to get to Los Angeles. Look at the map. Palmdale to LA is mega mountainous so the railroad will be very expensive to build, so to get to LA Xpress West has to use a hefty chunk of line built with the CAHSR money.

 

[leemell]

Or Passengers transfer to CAHSR at Palmdale

 

[bretton88]

I dunno. I feel like losing a lot of money.

Where's a like button for this? We always feel like losing money, right?

 

[GG-1]

Aloha

Well who knows, the Shadow knows. Last nights local news did a short story about a proposal for High Speed train to Burbank from Vegas. This one has support from several casino operators.

If I see more I will let you know and or start a new pipedream thread.

 

[Tokkyu40]

I dunno. I feel like losing a lot of money.

Where's a like button for this? We always feel like losing money, right?

This is why we have Las Vegas.

 

[john h]

Lol there's a chance you wI'll come out ahead though

 

[CHamilton]

Victorville-to-Vegas rail not dead yet
XpressWest COO thinks viability grows with emphasis on regional connectivity

VICTORVILLE — XpressWest Chief Operating Officer Andrew Mack said Thursday that the viability of the ambitious high-speed rail line from Victorville to Las Vegas will continue to grow as similar regional projects progress.

Formerly known as DesertXPress, the multibillion dollar project is being touted as able to transport riders from here to Sin City in about 80 minutes, with trains leaving every 20 minutes and tickets costing $75 to $100.
In July 2013, the Las Vegas-based company's $5.5 billion government loan application was suspended indefinitely, stalling the project.
But Mack told the Daily Press that he remained confident that the project could fill a major commuter need, a sentiment he said has been furthered by the progress of similar projects such as the High Desert Corridor — a proposed 63-mile long, east-west multi-modal transportation corridor between Highway 14 in Palmdale and Highway 18 in Apple Valley.
The rail component of that project could ultimately connect with the XpressWest endeavor.

 

[neroden]

And I find that the Nevada legislature has set up its own High Speed Rail Authority. This seems intended to back XPressWest.

http://www.noiseporn.com/2015/07/new-high-speed-rail-will-run-southern-california-las-vegas/

https://www.leg.state.nv.us/Session/78th2015/Reports/history.cfm?BillName=SB457

It looks like this is going to happen. The Authority is authorized to use bond financing (secured by the project's future revenues or assets) and is authorized to accept gifts from governments (which enables the use of eminent domain for it). The California counties involved have already agreed to cooperate with the project. The EIS has already been approved. XPressWest will be the "franchisee" for the project, since.the law is set up to favor it.

 

[Andrew]

If you mess with Christie, you might get caught in a traffic jam…

Amtrak's revenue streams--and NEC Profits--are expected to grow as the economy keeps improving. Amtrak putting their NEC profits back into the Northeast Corridor can help pay off the debt service on these loans.

 

[Anderson]

Ok, I split the thread. Afigg, please feel free to repost your earlier bit here; I felt it was a good fit for either thread and was torn on where to place it.

 

[Paulus]

China signs deal to build XpressWest, construction to start next September

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Wow.

Welcome to the People's Republic of America.

 

[afigg]

China signs deal to build XpressWest, construction to start next September

Huge news if true. Having the Chinese build a Vegas to Victorville and presumably eventually Victorville to Palmdale has ramifications for CA HSR and any long term ideas of a direct LA Union Station to Vegas HSR service. The Chinese HSR signal system and train may be incompatible with the CA HSR system.

Another initial reaction is that the Chinese construction companies are about to get an education in big construction projects in a real democracy where building permits, approvals, work permits have to be obtained and compliance with US work rules has to be followed prior to and during construction. Going to take them longer than 3 years to build it. I also expect the start of construction will almost certainly be delayed as the financing will run into hurdles. Still, a big deal.

 

[jis]

China basically uses an indegenized version of ERTMS for train control and signaling, which they originally acquired from Siemens or Bombardier, I forget which one exactly. It should not be that hard to get a compatible version in place, since AFAICT CA HSR also plans to use some version of ERTMS.

 

[cirdan]

If it is true that the trains the Chinese supposedly developed themselves are in reality clones of Bombardier and Siemens products, those companies may have something to say about it, seeing IP is more enforcable in the United States than in China.

 

[PerRock]

Actually out of the 9 different high speed trains China uses, only 3 of them are developed & built in China. The other 6 are all made by foreign companies including: Siemens, Alstom, Bombardier, JR, etc. Two out of the 3 Chinese made trains are in turn variations on the Siemens Velaro, built under contract from Siemens, which only leaves one truly designed & built by China, and yes admittedly Kawasaki claims it is a stolen design from their Shinkansens.

peter

 

[Fan Railer]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-17/china-u-s-reach-agreement-on-high-speed-rail-before-xi-visit