“If They Build It, People Will Come.”
The four-hour, 275-mile drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas is pretty awful – up through Victorville and Barstow, then on and on through lots of hot, dry nothing, often with heavy, speeding and frequently drunken traffic.
For years there has been talk of high-speed trains linking those two cities. One idea is for a magnetic levitation line that could support trains reaching speeds of 300 mile-per-hour. Another idea being promoted is a more conventional high-speed train that would run at 150 mph — half as fast, but still cutting travel time in half.
Of the two schemes, the maglev is much more expensive and the technology is not yet proven over time. As far as I know the only such line operating on a regular basis is in China – a 7-minute, 20-mile run from Shanghai’s airport into the city.
The other proposal is less costly and is being proposed by a private company, an attractive idea in these lean times.
It doesn’t matter which rail alternative is chosen because it will beat the hell out of that miserable drive.
“It doesn’t matter which rail alternative is chosen because it will beat the hell out of that miserable drive.”
Exactly why I’d love to see one of these built from Newport News->Richmond->D.C.
Dante would have found the most wicked condemned to drive I-95.