Additionally, a federal mandate for American-made trains could be a roadblock, given that no U.S.-based companies manufacture high-speed trains. However, XpressWest cut its ties in June with the Chinese company that was supposed to help finance the project, citing problems with performance deadlines. Last year, the Nevada High-Speed Rail Authority approved XpressWest’s plan to build a dual-track line connecting the two regions, with round-trip tickets expected to cost about $100 per passenger. “Amtrak is an option that I’ve considered as a temporary solution to help us bridge the gap until we have a financially viable high-speed rail project,” Titus said in a prepared statement.Īmtrak officials did not respond to a request for comment, but there are no immediate signs that the company plans to restart service to Las Vegas anytime soon.Īnd while Titus said that she supports the concept of high-speed rail service, the congresswoman has not publicly signaled whether she backs a plan proposed by XpressWest to build an $8 billion high-speed rail line linking Las Vegas and Southern California. Daily, an average of 44,419 vehicles crossed the California-Nevada border along Interstate 15 last year, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, has spent the past several years advocating for some sort of rail service for Southern Nevada, noting that the region has swelled to more than 2 million residents. That idea failed to gain momentum and quietly died. About 15 years ago, local lawmakers had hedged their bets on a public-private partnership that called for building a 272-mile route for a guided, magnetic-levitation vehicle that would run from here to Anaheim, California. Since then, several ideas have come and gone to revive passenger rail service into Las Vegas.įor a time, Maglev was all the rage. At the time, Amtrak’s fares were about the same as an hourlong flight aboard low-cost airlines flying out of Southern California’s airports, making the train ride pretty useless. Part of the problem was that the train trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas lasted up to seven hours, taking much longer than a casual four-hour drive. Looking real close, you might spot the faint outlines of Amtrak signs and logos that were removed long ago from the structure.ĭesert Wind offered daily service until 1995, when it was reduced to three times per week and ultimately killed two years later due to waning demand and cuts in federal subsidies. The shuttered, worn-down depot is still there, bypassed daily by lengthy cargo trains rumbling to nearby warehouses. Several of you have called or sent e-mails asking why Amtrak doesn’t stop in Las Vegas, even though the tracks are in place.Īmtrak’s Desert Wind route ran from 1978 to 1997 between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City with several stops, including a station at 100 S. Las Vegas’ roots as a railroad town can be traced back more than a century, but passengers haven’t arrived here by train in nearly two decades. An Amtrak train is seen in this file photo on Sept.

Las vegas metro rail route