What's wrong with a train to Sin City?

[bos1]

OK, so the Republicans are getting justifiably smacked down for bringing up a fictional "train to Sin City" project in Obama's spending bill, but... I think there should be a train to Sin City. It's a major traffic route. Between two major cities. Traveling that corridor are trucks, tourists, commuters -- and that means jobs. It's the perfect place for a fast train, and it might inspire more around the country.

Crooks and Liars:

When California Congressman Darrell Issa brings up the right-wing stimulus lie du jour -- the so-called "train to Sin City" -- David Shuster delivers a well-deserved smackdown, practically laughing at Issa for having the balls to spread that lie on his show. Good stuff. Bravo, David. Watch Issa start squirming as Shuster unloads at around 4:30.

[Captain Hilts]

1. A Sin City rail line makes sense to me. nt

[niyad]

2. makes more sense than letting those sinners drive home drunk

[billybob537]

12. and the casinos could buy .

losers tickets home after they lose everything

[backscatter712]

3. It could bring tourist dollars.

Nothing wrong with that.

For folks on the West Coast, I can see the draw of just hopping on a train to Vegas over a weekend - not have to worry about a car, or go through quite so many of the hoops you'd jump through at the airport, and for less money than a plane ticket. Works for me.

[SacredCow]

4. but some questions need answering....

Will it make stops in Naughty City, Pev City, and Debaucheryville en route? Or is it strictly a line between two points?

And is meal service provided? Drinks free, or for a surcharge?

What will the train station security be like? Will I have to remove my shoes AND underwear?

[bos1]

6. on the train to Sin City, the first one is always free.... nt

[billybob537]

13. Sign me up I'm aching

For some good debauchery

[Lost-in-FL]

5. I don't see the problem for it either.

Even if it is a train to "nowhere". Lots of humanpower is needed to run train systems efficiently.

Someone has to tend for the diverse stations...
someone has to do maintenance (routinely) on the tracks and trains...
someone has to sell tickets...
there would more transportation from and to jobs or schools for those without cars, etc.

[Mira]

7. what happens on the train stays on the train? Will there be slotmachines

in the hallways?

At any rate, it totally works for me. ANY good train, ANYwhere in this country is desperately needed.

[silverweb]

8. Exactly.

Personally, I'd love to see high-speed trains between all cities, with direct routes between major destinations from coast to coast.

This would eliminate a good portion of truck pollution and highway wear-&-tear from long-distance freight hauling, eliminate a good number of pollution-laden plane flights (especially the short hops), and eliminate the need for a lot of cars on the road.

We could permanently say good-bye to a good deal of our dependence on oil, and restrict use of what oil we really need mostly to things other than fuel.

Construction of this system would create hundreds of thousands of long-term jobs, and maintenance and operations would create hundreds of thousands more.

We're going to need an extensive system of high-speed, long-distance trains eventually. Now is the time to start building, using, and popularizing (even glamorizing) them.

[niyad]

9. darrell, are you EVER going to stop being such a completely brain-dead jerk?

[ejpoeta]

10. ooh ooh!! i know this one!!!

because it's in harry reid's area!! do i get a prize????

[bos1]

11. your prize, a one-way ticket to SIN CITY

[eshfemme]

14. Just one more reason to be pissed at the Republicans.

How cool would a train to Sin City be??? We don't have enough trains and after the revelations that Sully gave about how the airlines have been cutting the pay of pilots--even experienced ones as well as the level of pollution that air travel creates, creating more mass transportation options seems to be the right thing to do.

[IDFbunny]

15. Better yet, a MAGLEV to LV

[gmoney]

16. well, isn't it on the way to, say, Denver, North Haverbrook, and Chicago?

Gotta start the bullet trains somewhere... or is that more of a... SHELBYVILLE idea?

[AZ Criminal JD]

17. Let the casinos with their billions pay for it.

[harun]

18. Just as we should improve rail in the NE corridor I think we should

create solid rail (proper) in the West between San Fran, LA, San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix, etc.

[Ediacara]

19. Someone explain to me why Vegas doesn't already HAVE train service?

Seriously....

[Born_A_Truman]

20. Amtrack used to go but it ended in 2001

I used to take my dad to the Barstow station so he could take the train to LV (the Desert Wind). He used to love that trip.

[Raine]

27. Damn I didn't know that

I took that train a few times, loved it.

[Hieronymus]

28. High speed rail is badly needed. It presently takes 9hours and 15min or 13

hours to go from San Francisco to Los Angeles, depending on the train. It's 310 miles.

[Hieronymus]

29. Paris to Marseille, a distance of 411 miles, takes 3 hours and 15 min on TGV.

[Thothmes]

21. This looks like a worthwhile project

But as far as a stimulus project is concerned, how far along is the project? Is it "shovel ready"? Just waiting for money to start laying the road bed as the completed engineering designs call for and procuring the high speed locomotives and cars needed once the tracks are laid. Or is it "seems like a good idea". lets start preliminiary engineering on the feasiblilty of the project. Maybe in 10 years we will have completed designs for the trackage and the rolling stock. From a stimulus stand point if the project is ready for construction, by all means get on with it with the stimulus money.
If it is nothing more than a design concept, better to fund the project through normal bugdetary processes. Take the stimulus money and spend it on something that needs to be and is ready to build right now. JMO.

[stevedeshazer]

22. If they built one in Dubai, they'd be falling all over themselves to bid the job

:shrug:

[AnnieBW]

23. Because it cuts out flights between Vegas and Anaheim

or Vegas and LA. It's like a 5-hour drive, but a 1-hour flight. From what I understand, I-5 between LA and Vegas gets clogged on weekends. With a high-speed train, you cut down on both the traffic and short-hop airline flights. It's the equivalent to the Acela train we have here in the Northeast Corridor.

[Born_A_Truman]

26. I-15

I-15 is the corridor to Las Vegas from LA. The traffic is horrendous and we don't even have a metro link that comes up the Cajon Pass to the high desert for commuters. It would be great to have high speed rail come up and hopefully stop in Barstow to pick up passengers.

[AnnieBW]

30. Sorry

I-5 is the north-south running along the coast. My bad.

[Baikonour]

24. Vegas is on the verge of death, anyway. It could definitely use this.

[ContinentalOp]

25. Nothing. I'm bummed that it has been debunked. I actually thought it was happening!

Oh well, maybe someday.