
Las Vegas High-Speed Rail Venture Gets New Owner - gok
https://www.wsj.com/articles/las-vegas-high-speed-rail-venture-gets-new-owner-1537243260
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reaperducer
_XpressWest has secured most of the state and federal approvals needed to
develop a 185-mile route for electric trains to travel at speeds up to 150
miles an hour between Las Vegas and Victorville, Calif., a high-desert city on
the outskirts of the Los Angeles metro area._

Getting to Victorville is one thing. But until someone figures out how to
traverse Cajon Pass† in a high speed train, it's just not going to work.

Even at 150MPH, the journey will take longer than a plane. And why would I
want to change trains between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, when I can fly direct
in an hour? Las Vegas is compact enough that the traditional train advantage
of terminating at the city center doesn't help, since that's where the airport
is, too.

Until the train is one hop from Vegas to downtown LA, it's DOA.

†[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajon_Pass](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajon_Pass)

