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After 30 years of planning, the MagLev project between Anaheim and Vegas lost one of its biggest proponents last month to a train part of the federal high-speed rail corridor. Nevada Senator Harry Reid is now behind the DesertXpress between Southern California and Las Vegas that would mainly go along Interstate 15. Unfortunately, the phase planned right now only goes between Vegas and Victorville. Why Victorville? Their website explains:
Of course it would be great if DesertXpress could be extended to downtown Los Angeles, Anaheim and Ontario, and someday it might. But for this initial project, it is critical for the station to serve the Southern California market and be financeable without public tax dollars.Victorville makes a lot of sense because it is the first major population center northeast of the Cajon Pass through the San Bernardino mountain range separating the High Desert from the Los Angeles basin. Victorville is within only a 30- to 45-minute drive for roughly 5 million people who live in the Inland Empire, Antelope Valley, and the eastern portions of Los Angeles County, and only a one to two hour's drive for most of the rest of the Southland's 21 million residents—many of whom routinely drive at least an hour to and from work each weekday.
Victorville also is the choke point of I-15, where the roadway narrows from from four through lanes to three in each direction. With the station in Victorville, DesertXpress avoids the uncertainty of the challenging 200-mile drive across the Mojave Desert that could take anywhere from 4 hours to 10 hours - you never know, because of congestion and incidents or accidents.
Yes, someday "it might" go to Los Angeles." The Victorville leg will cost $3.5 to $4 billion for 200 miles of work--that's less than proposed subway to the sea in Los Angeles.
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This makes zero sense. Victorville is a declining community that is bleeding people as quickly as it is bleeding job. The only growth industry, besides meth production, is teenage pregnancy and this is the community they think will most serve the needs of this train? Do they honestly think people will drive to VV to get onto a train? PLease.
Seems to me this whole thing is nothing more than an expensive way to kill the entire project.
Ross: Though I agree with you on the Victorville terminus, that's only Phase I. The goal is to bring it to Palmdale to tie into the CA High-Speed Rail project. If the projects are designed to use similar equipment and track gauges, it's possible that the Vegas train will be able to use the HSR corridor for a direct connection to Union Station. The future extension of the CA HSR to San Diego will head east from Union Station through the San Gabriel Valley/Inland Empire, so that's another possible connection the DesertXpress can make.
As I understand it, the point of DesertXpress is to get *something* built a significant portion of the way to Vegas as quickly as possible using mostly private funding.
Also, the DesertXpress and the Vegas-Anaheim maglev proposals are totally separate. Maglev deserves to die a quick death IMO, since the cost is unacceptable and the technology incompatible with the future CAHSR network.
I may not drive to VV to hop on a train to Vegas (I don't go to Vegas that often), but people in the SGV and IE aren't that far away and may be more willing. I'd definitely use the train if I could take HSR to Palmdale and transfer - or better yet if the DesertXpress used the HSR right of way from Union Station.
All great points.
I had no clue this was possibly connecting to Palmdale. Since I live in Palmdale, I'd have no problem driving to Victorville to catch a train to Vegas. It'd save me tons of mileage since I drive to Vegas every few months.
Rejecting the MagLev technology is like telling the Nazi Rocket scientists 65 years ago, who brought their technology to the US government, "sorry, this stuff is too expensive to build and is unreliable (which it was at that time).
We cannot afford to be behind the curve in this matter.
first, I want to congratulate you for mentioning Nazi rocket scientists, proving once again that all Internet discussions must eventually involve Nazis or Hitler :)
second, maglev isn't the next moon rocket program. it's the next supersonic airliner. (remember the Concorde?)
the United States is ridiculously behind the curve, but it's behind the curve on high-speed rail and even behind the curve on conventional rail.
maglev has had years (since the 1980s at least) to prove itself worthy of consideration. in that time, HSR has expanded across Europe, and spread from Japan to Taiwan and South Korea. maglev has remained stuck on test tracks.
DesertXpress has the potential to link to the California HSR project, and by extension, to link Vegas with all of California's major cities. Victorville is Phase 1.
I understand the concept of transit hub and all, but are people gong to feel *safe* leaving their cars in Victorville?
Or are they planning on building a tweaker-proof bunker-esque parking lot?
This is such a ploy to bring more people and business to Victorville, a city with an incredibly high foreclosure rate, which wants to bill itself as an LA "bedroom community" despite it being 100+ miles away from LA.
Gee, you think lobbyists may perhaps have had some sway with the route planning?
Why ignore the obvious? Why must there be an ulterior motive?
1) Victorville is on the main route between SoCal and Vegas. Stopping there would not require a detour
2) the planners for DesertXpress clearly aren't interested in tackling the challenge that is Cajon Pass - at least, not just yet.
3) They obviously don't have the funds to go all the way into Los Angeles
4) Victorville is the closest thing resembling a town within reasonable distance of Cajon Pass, without having to cross Cajon Pass
5) From Victorville, they could head either south to San Bernardino or west to Palmdale.
Victorville may be a horrible example of sprawl gone wrong, but it is also, pretty much by default, the logical choice if you're trying to get a railroad built quickly without too many obstacles (either NIMBY or engineering obstacles).
Yes, it would be nice if lobbyists *didn't* dictate all development, believe me.
Alas, in the current era lobbyists/corps *completely* dictate development. The information's always there, lurking far past the front page. Today's big business only *survives* on ulterior motive.
The most salient issue is:
people *will not* want to leave their cars in an alleged tw33k town.
It's like if they built the Cal high speed train and stopped at Bakersfield, that would make no sense either.
to expand on jfujita's comment. See for yourself. Get a map of Victorville from Google Maps and click the Terrain button. If you are zoomed in too far back out and look to the south. Getting through the Cajon pass will cost nearly as much as the line to Vegas from Victorville. In the meantime, hopefully the CAHSR line from LA to Palmdale will be under construction. Linking Victorville to Palmdale would be much more feasible and would make a single train connection from San Fran to Vegas feasible as well.