Passenger Trains > Raiders, Trump could save XpressWest to Vegas?

The Las Vegas Review-Journal today published a report that Las Vegas developer Tony Marnell believes the move of the NFL Raiders from Oakland to Las Vegas and the new Trump administration could be the spark that will push the need for his XpressWest high speed rail service between Los Angeles and the gambling spa.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/17 15:04 by Copy19.

All aboard the thug express!

Well, if Tony believes it then it must be???????????

I wonder if Tony is the infamous "Bid Hitter"?

"I can't wait to ride a train full of Raiders fans," said no one in their right mind ever. And you think all of the drunks coming home from a day at the races in Del Mar are bad on the Surfliners!

It's just as bad as a pipe dream like the Ca. HSR, Amtrak shouldn't of gotten rid of the Desert Wind!

Raiders fans were always well behaved when I rode with them on Surfliner trains through the years. It was always the San Diego Charger Fans causing all the problems on the trains.

Chris

Copy19 Wrote:
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> The Las Vegas Review-Journal today published a
> report that Las Vegas developer Tony Marnell
> believes the move of the NFL Raiders from Oakland
> to Las Vegas and the new Trump administration
> could be the spark that will push the need for his
> XpressWest high speed rail service between Los
> Angeles and the gambling spa.

Thanks for mentioning the story. I found it, and read it.

Near the bottom of the article, the talking heads talk about congestion. Uh, that shouldn't be related to the XpressWest. City of Las Vegas needs to build a better public transit network. How about expanding the monorail for a change? If they don't know how to do that, then XpressWest will suffer from incompetence, too.

Off topic, but I was in San Diego recently, and had a nice chat with visitors from Las Vegas. They marveled at the reliability, frequency, and convenience of San Diego's public transit network. They complained that Las Vegas's taxi culture is so much inferior in terms of getting around.

Tony Marnell needs to get his priorities right.

XpressWest is supposed to be ready around 2035. By that time, who knows how many times the Raiders would have changed cities. Past history is actually a good indicator of future for this NFL franchise.

Trump has little say in what Congress does, and recent political events show that there are elements in his own party who don't see eye-to-eye. Besides, political insiders know that XpressWest idea is related to the dealmaking behind the scenes that occurred during the 2008 Presidential Election. Easiest way to kill this idea is to spread the news that this is Obama's idea, not Trump's. Watch George Will rise in anger and remind everyone that this is an anti-freedom project. :-)

Mudrock Wrote:
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> Raiders fans were always well behaved when I rode
> with them on Surfliner trains through the years.
> It was always the San Diego Charger Fans causing
> all the problems on the trains.
>
> Chris

I felt no safer attending 49ers games, when they played at Candlestick. I sat around the corner from "The Black Hole" when I attended a Raiders game in Oakland. Some people can tell the difference between rowdiness, and real violence. The Raiders fans relish on the intimidating "rowdiness" image.

Right On! Amtrak should have kept the DW!

My wife and I once took a flight from London to Paris in the 1980s. It was full of British Football fans, who were rowdy as could be until the plane hit a "bump" and they all went silent until we landed!

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

Paging Bidhitter ....

Regards,
Burlington John

PHall Wrote:
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> I wonder if Tony is the infamous "Bid Hitter"?

X-Train merely exploited the fake "train optimism" the politicians created 8 years ago, the result of our Train Inferiority Complex. TAW made insightful comments in another thread about people wanting "The Best" without consideration of actually solving a real transportation problem. Europe and Asia have HSR, so we must have it, and we must have it NOW.

It's actually funny that an industry that relies heavily on subsidies (building professional sports stadiums) is used as bait to address our Train Inferiority Complex again. My opinion is, it didn't go well 8 years ago, so they should get a clue and shelve the idea for good. Add some lanes on the California side of I-15, for starters.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal article, it's supposed to be a Chinese-American joint venture. Somehow, that might not sound so bad, having chefs build the railroad, instead of lawyers doing it (CA HSR). :-)

cchan006 Wrote:
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> PHall Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----

> Asia have HSR, so we must have it, and we must
> have it NOW.

HSR envy is not the issue, if you add "some more lanes to I-5", they will cost more than CAHSR and all they will do is fill up to the shoulders with more traffic...it has been proven over and over again. It's not just my opinion but also that of the highway-oriented UCLA Transportation Dept. Where have you been living in California these past 50 years to think otherwise? CAHSR "NOW"? No, 50 years ago when Japan HSR went on line!

So ... a team turns their backs on one city and moves to another city. And the fans jump on a train to go to the other city?

How many Chargers fans will be making the trip from San Diego to LA for the games?
There is pubic transportation in place (train plus buses) for that connection.

People may remain fans through television - but I do not see a demand for home games.
Especially on a train route that will take them past two other NFL teams.
The few forlorn fans who wanted to continue to go to Raiders home games would be better off on a plane.

railwaybaron Wrote:
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> HSR envy is not the issue, if you add "some more
> lanes to I-5", they will cost more than CAHSR and
> all they will do is fill up to the shoulders with
> more traffic...it has been proven over and over
> again. It's not just my opinion but also that of
> the highway-oriented UCLA Transportation Dept.
> Where have you been living in California these
> past 50 years to think otherwise? CAHSR "NOW"? No,
> 50 years ago when Japan HSR went on line!

I don't know if you're trolling, or you're serious, but I-5 doesn't go to Las Vegas. Not even close.

There's a section on the freeway that goes to Las Vegas (I'll let you figure out which freeway it is) that shrinks from 3 lanes to 2 lanes and it's in California. If you've driven there (or if you did recently and actually remember), that's what needs to be fixed FIRST. The lane merging creates unnecessary congestion in that corridor, especially during peak travel periods. California likes to spend money on highways, or have you not noticed that constant widening of lanes, and repaving happening all over the state. Where have YOU been?

We're stuck with the automobile. The culture was built around it in California and Nevada. If Las Vegas wants to transform itself out of that and want people to use more public transportation (including XpressWest), then they need to transform Las Vegas into a more transit-friendly city first.

justalurker66 Wrote:
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> People may remain fans through television - but I
> do not see a demand for home games.
> Especially on a train route that will take them
> past two other NFL teams.
> The few forlorn fans who wanted to continue to go
> to Raiders home games would be better off on a
> plane.

For me, the NFL home games are a bit comical, if not insulting. Athletes are standing around and waiting for the commercial break to finish, and this happens several times during the game. Despite that, I did enjoy seeing the actual game with my naked eyes, without the technological assistance from the cameras (zooms, pans, slow motions, instant replays). A Raiders TD toward the "Black Hole" (where I was near) was exciting.

Just keep in mind that primary purpose of XpressWest (or anything else passenger rail) is to make cars look good by "relieving congestion" and that's it. Whether riding a train is more convenient than driving seems irrelevant, so trains play second fiddle. As preached so many times by WW, HSR's (and XpressWest's) chances of high ridership depends on an existing public transit network... which is lacking on either side of the proposed corridor, ESPECIALLY the Inland Empire, mentioned in the Las Vegas Review-Journal as the target for the ridership.

Might as well drive to Ontario Airport and make the short hop to McCarran Airport... or brave the traffic and drive the entire way.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/17 01:12 by cchan006.

Mudrock Wrote:
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> Raiders fans were always well behaved when I rode
> with them on Surfliner trains through the years.
> It was always the San Diego Charger Fans causing
> all the problems on the trains.
>
> Chris

Amen to that. I had several trips on the San Joaquin that actually catered to Raider fans with retired Raider players who rode along. This was back in the early '90s when the package deal included a bus that met us at Oakland and drove us directly to the stadium. No one was out of control and actually treated a Seattle fan rather decently. It's an entirely different story once the game begins.

You can't deny the market is there, and that highway congestion is a real problem.
My issue is with justifying spending tax dollars for HSR, on a pretend economy(gambling),
and now a heavily subsidized sports enterprise. I'm not anti-gambling and I am a huge NFL fan,
but we should be looking at a more ethical and balanced high demand travel corridor first.

cchan006 Wrote:
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> City of Las Vegas needs to build a better public transit network. How
> about expanding the monorail for a change?


I believe that the Casinos built and own the monorail.