Skip to Content

Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.

Map of the world

Speed train from Disneyland to Vegas?

The drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas is one of those legendary road trips, made famous for me by Hunter S. Thompson and my own college road trip with my girlfriends. I was so excited when I could actually quote (and I paraphrase), "We were somewhere around Barstow when the drugs set in." But -- ahem -- I digress.

That trip might become even more legendary, as the site of a 300 mph speed train that would whisk tourists from Disneyland to Vegas -- i.e., from one amusement park to the next. What would be the nation's first magnetically levitating train needs approval from Congress to get off the drawing board, and now it has competition. A less exciting, slower train, the DesertXpress, wouldn't so much "whisk" passengers as it would sort of roll them at 125 mph out of Victorville, CA (1.5 hours north of L.A.). Amtrak already tried running a train between the two cities, and it closed the route down in 1997 due to low ridership.

Even though the diesel-electric DesertXpress isn't as flashy as the MagLev, it has millions of dollars in private funding and is gaining ground as the MagLev stumbles through financial roadblocks.

With 10 million Californians making the 250-mile drive between the two cities, it might be time for Amtrak to get back in the game.

Filed under: North America, United States, Transportation

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

Gadling Features



Categories

Travel Video

Discover San Francisco by bus on the award winning MUNI line 33

Featured Galleries (view all)

Top Ten Strangest Hotel Guest Requests
Paris Air Show 2009
Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial
Work and play in Queensland, Australia: Fruit Picking
One week in Chicago: Attractions
One week in Chicago: Food
Ardeonaig, Loch Tay, Scotland
Bay of Plenty
Bay of Islands

Sponsored Links