FAA Halts SWA Departures
- Thread starter SeanD
- Start date
Boris Badenov
This is no laughing matter.
Except trains don't really make "profits".
BobDDuck
Island Bus Driver
SeanD
Well-Known Member
Actually more than 50% of the Las Vegas area population is from Southern California and locals from Vegas travel to Socal all the time to spend fortunes on Disneyland and beach trips. A high-speed rail would make sense because when something happens on that highway it backs up for miles. I live in the Vegas area and hate driving to Socal on the 15. That road is dangerous. I'd take a train if it was available.
Last edited:
Baronman
Well-Known Member
So the question becomes do I sit in some traffic and have the luxury of having my car in S Cal or do I ride the train to SoCal and deal with SoCal mass transit/ride sharing? The majority would probably chose the former....
SeanD
Well-Known Member
Some traffic? A typical jam up on the 15 can last up to 6 hours. Especially weekend or holiday traffic, which is the time most people travel back and forth. I grew in the D.C. Northern Virginia area and that was nasty traffic but at least we had side roads and other shortcuts.
worst rideshare at LAS was a couple years back. damn EDM festival out at the race track. 45 minutes in the garage with hundreds of people nut to butt....Normally dont have issues though
SeanD
Well-Known Member
CFIT99
I'm probably commenting ironically...
you're not wrong...the US just hasn't figure out how to do it like the rest of the world
someone correct me if this is wrong, but I heard a few years ago that Amtrak has never made a profit...(I could google this but what's the fun in that)
Roger Roger
Bottom of the list
My theory is that it has more to do with the US abysmal PTO situation than any of the other usually-cited reasons.
ChasenSFO
hen teaser
As our benevolent leader pointed out, there is not a large US airline today that isn't totally dependant on technology for day-to-day operations, so they all have melt downs from time to time accordingly. Only very rarely do they become the epic meltdown that Southwest had over the holiday season.
Yep, more or less checks out though it appears the map has slightly expanded. Embarrassing when you consider how instrumental the railroads were to this nation's expansion at one point in time, then we did nothing further with them.
I've done a few long train rides in my life, but they've more felt like a novelty than anything else. Even taking Amtrack from San Jose to Sacramento took almost 2 full hours longer than driving with all the stops and the indirect routes, so I never bothered to do it again when I had that hellish commute. Yes, it is much more comfortable than economy air travel, and the dining options can be good, but I'd be surprised to see much new demand for rail service in the future in the Western part of the US outside of SoCal to Vegas/San Francisco high-speed rail, which could really compete with traveling by air factoring in curbside to curbside times at airports and likely being dropped off in a more convenient spot than an airport would leave you. I just don't ever see the public saying "I'm so fed up with air travel that I'll take a train from LA to Chicago", though, nor do I see highspeed rail connecting any 2 points that are much more than an hour's flying time either anytime soon.
Yep, more or less checks out though it appears the map has slightly expanded. Embarrassing when you consider how instrumental the railroads were to this nation's expansion at one point in time, then we did nothing further with them.
I've done a few long train rides in my life, but they've more felt like a novelty than anything else. Even taking Amtrack from San Jose to Sacramento took almost 2 full hours longer than driving with all the stops and the indirect routes, so I never bothered to do it again when I had that hellish commute. Yes, it is much more comfortable than economy air travel, and the dining options can be good, but I'd be surprised to see much new demand for rail service in the future in the Western part of the US outside of SoCal to Vegas/San Francisco high-speed rail, which could really compete with traveling by air factoring in curbside to curbside times at airports and likely being dropped off in a more convenient spot than an airport would leave you. I just don't ever see the public saying "I'm so fed up with air travel that I'll take a train from LA to Chicago", though, nor do I see highspeed rail connecting any 2 points that are much more than an hour's flying time either anytime soon.
Last edited:
Minuteman
“Dongola”
This map is sus. There are currently no tracks between Dallas and Houston (labelled as New Services above), but there is a project for high-speed rail that probably will happen in the next decade. It has received all approvals needed, has funding, and now just has to negotiate the rights-of-way.
Texas Central — Building The Texas High-Speed Train
Texas Central is developing the new Texas high-speed train line connecting North Texas & Greater Houston, in 90 minutes, with a stop in the Brazos Valley.
www.texascentral.com
On the map it is depicted the same as that Los Angeles-Las Vegas route, but if I had to wager on one, I'd definitely pick Texas. Beyond that it looks like they're planning to recreate pre-deregulation Southwest's non-conjoined triangle of success.
For contrast, here are the US rail routes that are not just passenger service. Conceptually these are available today for Amtrak's use.
OpenRailwayMap
OpenRailwayMap - An OpenStreetMap-based project for creating a map of the world's railway infrastructure.
www.openrailwaymap.org
Fixtur
Dunning-Kruger Expert
Rail can make money provided it's the correct route. The Acela and Capitol Corridor routes for Amtrak are profitable. A high speed rail between Las Vegas and LA would certainly be profitable.
A reasonably fast Pacific Coast rail line would probably be profitable as well - I'm not even talking "high speed", but simply "normal speed". The current offering is a 10-hour stage coach ride over ancient crumbling rails which is only marginally less expensive than a flight, and about 4 times what driving would cost. This is why no one uses it. An upgraded electric line that could do the trip in 5-6 hours (avg. speed 75mph) would absolutely have significant ridership. Faster than that would only be better.
Rail is seen as unprofitable, therefore not worthy of investment, which leads to poor service, making it unprofitable, and around and around. With the correct investment in high-demand corridors, it could be a welcome alternative to the car or bus.
A reasonably fast Pacific Coast rail line would probably be profitable as well - I'm not even talking "high speed", but simply "normal speed". The current offering is a 10-hour stage coach ride over ancient crumbling rails which is only marginally less expensive than a flight, and about 4 times what driving would cost. This is why no one uses it. An upgraded electric line that could do the trip in 5-6 hours (avg. speed 75mph) would absolutely have significant ridership. Faster than that would only be better.
Rail is seen as unprofitable, therefore not worthy of investment, which leads to poor service, making it unprofitable, and around and around. With the correct investment in high-demand corridors, it could be a welcome alternative to the car or bus.
Last edited:
BobDDuck
Island Bus Driver
Now do one for population density and then one quality of localized public transportation.
In order for InterCity rail to work (what that map shows) we need local transit to work, which starts with designing more compact and integrated business districts and then building localized public transportation to serve them.
I think a lot of people tend to forget about commerce. The Vegas-Phoenix-Los Angeles triad is super important for the economies of the Southwest. Smoothing interstate commerce and transport between the three cities carries a lot of potential benefits.
fholbert
Mod's - Please don't edit my posts!
It’s been 5 days since I was last in Las Vegas. Based on the direction of heavy traffic on Thursday and Friday (north bound) and again on Sunday afternoon (south bound). I strongly suspect Las Vegas has a lot more to gain from high speed rail.
Last edited:
SeanD
Well-Known Member
I think I know why this backup happened on that day. There was a high speed pursuit of a robbery suspect and it ended on the 15 north at Tropicana with the police stopping him and the suspect killed himself in his car. It closed down the entire north15 for hours.
melax
Well-Known Member
Southwest pilot turns $3,300 airplane catering truck into a tiny home
Mark Pankey, who is originally from Louisiana, worked as a commercial pilot for Southwest Airlines for seven years after leaving the military. Two years ago he decided to buy a catering truck.
Similar threads
