California could not afford to complete it's current High Speed Rail project within the specified timeline and one of the complaints was that it could not find private funds to participate. Yet Virgin Trains wants to build a parallel route over x amount of miles to Las Vegas but doesn't have the immediate financial resources to reach or start from LA. Now it seems to me there might be some room here for some kind of Private vs Public Partnership over x amount of miles of right of way but niether project is looking at the other? Understood California wants 220 mph speeds but doesn't also have right of way that possibly could be shared for a fee? Instead of acquiring a whole new right of way or trackage rights?
Seems like someone dropped the ball there.
Hopefully that might receive consideration.
Is Richard Branson directly involved in the Virgin effot?
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACDIs Richard Branson directly involved in the Virgin effot?
He is one of the two founders of Virgin Group.....Parent company. How involved he is beyond photo shoots of Virgin Trains or how much stock he currently owns? No idea. Virgin is a huge conglomerate though of hundreds of companies.
CMStPnP BaltACD Is Richard Branson directly involved in the Virgin effort? He is one of the two founders of Virgin Group.....Parent company. How involved he is beyond photo shoots of Virgin Trains or how much stock he currently owns? No idea. Virgin is a huge conglomerate though of hundreds of companies.
BaltACD Is Richard Branson directly involved in the Virgin effort?
Branson's personal magnetism (and personal finances) can get things accomplished that just Virgin as a brand name cannot.
BaltACD CMStPnP BaltACD Is Richard Branson directly involved in the Virgin effort? He is one of the two founders of Virgin Group.....Parent company. How involved he is beyond photo shoots of Virgin Trains or how much stock he currently owns? No idea. Virgin is a huge conglomerate though of hundreds of companies. Branson's personal magnetism (and personal finances) can get things accomplished that just Virgin as a brand name cannot.
Agreed! The more help the better.
BaltACD Is Richard Branson directly involved in the Virgin effot?
He wasn't at first, but he bought into Brightline (Now Virgin) in Florida after it was up and running and appearing that it was well on it's way to success.
Sir Richard's no fool, he's a smart businessman and knows a good thing when he sees it.
Here's the whole story, but the intro pretty much says it all.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Trains_USA
There was a photo of him rubbing shoulders with Brightline riders in a recent issue of Trains magazine, so the answer is yes.
He is charismatic, has influence with many important people, and has a tendency to succeed in his endeavors. So it's probably good for the railroad.
Until he decides he's tired of it.....
Virgin has been a major, though inconsistent player in passenger rail in the UK for 20 years. Routes are bid on to operate.
Virgin Atlantic Airline is owned 49% (the most allowed by UK law) by Delta Airlines. They bought that share when Richard Anderson, everyone's whipping boy, was CEO.
Branson's empire is primarily based in the UK. Virgin Group owns or used to own following:
Virgin Records
Virgin Holidays
Virgin Galatic
Virgin Oceanic
Virgin Promotions
Virgin Hotels
Virgin Mobile (Cell Phone)
Virgin Radio
Virgin Financial Investments
Virgin Entertainment
Virgin Health Care
Virgin Racing
Virgin Voyages (Cruise Ship out of Miami Port - Scarlet Lady see video link below)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctg-di-9nMs
Virgin Orbit (Satellite launch services).
Virgin Superstores
So on and so forth........
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XpressWest
The above seems to already have a route mapped, tying in at Palmdale and/or San Bernardino.
One might wonder whether it will be a walk across the platform, or a true non-stop run. With the egos involved, it might be tough to pull off the latter.
Ed
Any great expenditure of money on HSR to Vegas is a waste until the LOSSAN corridor has been rerouted away from the ocean at the bottlenecks and trouble zones.
The practicality of a HSR line would also depend on the Vegas business cycle. Vegas runs through hot-and-cold periods that seem to be generational, for lack of a better description.
Boomers seem to be doing the Vegas thing for now, but will Gen X'ers and Millenials? No one can be sure, at least not until the time comes.
Flintlock76 The practicality of a HSR line would also depend on the Vegas business cycle. Vegas runs through hot-and-cold periods that seem to be generational, for lack of a better description. Boomers seem to be doing the Vegas thing for now, but will Gen X'ers and Millenials? No one can be sure, at least not until the time comes.
Yes.
And an interesting corollary: who will be on the hook should the young 'uns not feel the need to go there.
I think if one looked at the P&Ls of corporations (except Trump's) with a presence in Las vegas since 1950, you'd have a pretty fine ROI. Ditto with increase in revenue and customers.
Now that I thought about this more, I wonder how much extra it would cost just to rebuild the mountain crossing for everyone to the Central Valley including for the Class I frieght railroads. Put everyone on the same mountain climbing ROW, seperate passenger from freight using grade seperation or those derailment walls they used elsewhere on the HSR system. Wouldn't a newer and more shallow grade eliminate some of the operating costs for BNSF & UP as well as reduce emissions ??? I wonder though at how many tracks it would need to be and what fee would need to be charged for a reasonable cost recovery.
This would be dreaming big though.
CMStPnPNow that I thought about this more, I wonder how much extra it would cost just to rebuild the mountain crossing for everyone to the Central Valley including for the Class I frieght railroads.
I presume you are talking about Tehachapi Pass. I thought they should have used a PPP years ago to double track the pass for freight and to extend the San Joaquin passenger corridor to LA. If the CA HSR is ever built, I think the should have stuck with the shorter original Tejon routing. They should have taken a page from the Swiss, and put a base tunnel under Tejon Pass.
CMStPnP Now that I thought about this more, I wonder how much extra it would cost just to rebuild the mountain crossing for everyone to the Central Valley including for the Class I frieght railroads. Put everyone on the same mountain climbing ROW, seperate passenger from freight using grade seperation or those derailment walls they used elsewhere on the HSR system. Wouldn't a newer and more shallow grade eliminate some of the operating costs for BNSF & UP as well as reduce emissions ??? I wonder though at how many tracks it would need to be and what fee would need to be charged for a reasonable cost recovery. This would be dreaming big though.
The problem with this idea is that frt RRs can stand curves, but not grades and HSR can stand grades, but not curves.
An alignment with few, shallow curves and low gradient would be really, really expensive.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
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