X-train change of plans

[daveklepper]

I suspect their plan is to offer a subsidy to Amtrak to run an Amtrak train.   Amtrak may still have that right.

[Anonymous]

you can only speculate till it happens. Talk is cheap' passenger train r not. time will tell as the proof is in the puddin'

[pajrr]

Dakguy201

If I understood the news items correctly, the new plan is to attach their cars to an Amtrak train running between (somewhere in) LA and Las Vegas.  That left me bewildered as no such train exists, nor have I seen anything to indicate it is in Amtrak's near term plans.  I think if Amtrak wanted to run that service they would encounter the same Union Pacific demand that prevented an upgrade of the Sunset Limited -- tons of dollars to be spent on capacity enhancements.   

Amtrak used to run "The Desert Wind", which broke off of the California Zephyr at Salt Lake City. When Amtrak had to make drastic cuts in service to survive the Desert Wind had to go.

[PNWRMNM]

Off balance sheet financing is a lease.

Mac

[dakotafred]

And, for the benefit of us non-finance types, what is "off balance sheet financing"? (No doubt a hyphen is needed in there someplace.)

Something in this plan is off-balance, for sure. I'll believe it when I see it.

[Dakguy201]

If I understood the news items correctly, the new plan is to attach their cars to an Amtrak train running between (somewhere in) LA and Las Vegas.  That left me bewildered as no such train exists, nor have I seen anything to indicate it is in Amtrak's near term plans.  I think if Amtrak wanted to run that service they would encounter the same Union Pacific demand that prevented an upgrade of the Sunset Limited -- tons of dollars to be spent on capacity enhancements.   

[tomikawaTT]

X-train could have had control of their own train (with a qualified UP crew) but they wouldn't have control of the track.  The LA&SL route is a rather busy freight rail line, and I don't doubt that the UP dispatcher would park the X-train on a siding in the approximate heart of nowhere if a freight needed the track space.

Then, too, they seem to have moved their northern terminus to Craig Road and I-15, an industrial area with no amenities on the railroad side of the freeway in NORTH Las Vegas.  What in ??? are they thinking?

Of course, there's a pretty nice casino (the Cannery) at Craig and Losee, about a mile west.  I don't doubt that they'd love the business...

Chuck (North Las Vegas resident)

[ccc]

Why did X-train choose to change their plans when they could have had their own control of a passenger train anyway? Did they choose to finance an Amtrak corridor using their money?