Passenger Trains > City of Indio, CA approves new improvements for Transit Hub

The Indio City Council approves improvements for the the Indio Transit Hub.
Which includes a spur and platform to allow Passenger Trains to service
Indio. If and whenever the Coachella Train starts.

I think they should also have the Sunset Limited to stop at this station as well.
It will allow this station to start attracting new riders to Passenger Train Service.


Indio City Council approves new Transit Hub improvements

Jerry Martin
Los Angeles, CA
Central Coast Railroad Festival

Jerry, you mention a spur at Indio.  Unless its a through  passenger siding, the Sunset would be unable to serve the station platform.

Now I know the media does not  understand spur or siding, so could be a mis-use of the term.

Ed

Ed. You and I know the differences here. The Media will never know.
Even if someone tries to tell them.

Im sure there will be more improvements before they actually finish the improvements.
So anything is possible. Specially if the plan I saw on the link. Is looking to add a few trains.
There will be a ton of support to extend the Coachella Service toward Imperial County.
You been around long enough to know. These things will come up. Before everything is set in stone

mundo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Jerry, you mention a spur at Indio.  Unless its a
> through  passenger siding, the Sunset would be
> unable to serve the station platform.
>
> Now I know the media does not  understand spur or
> siding, so could be a mis-use of the term.
>
> Ed

Jerry Martin
Los Angeles, CA
Central Coast Railroad Festival

I hope that increased rail service to the Coachella Valley will get started soon. Caltrans needs to let Amtrak run corridor trains from LA to Palm Springs and Indio. It would be great to extend this service to Phoenix Arizona.

Posted from iPhone

Passfanatic Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I hope that increased rail service to the
> Coachella Valley will get started soon. Caltrans
> needs to let Amtrak run corridor trains from LA to
> Palm Springs and Indio. It would be great to
> extend this service to Phoenix Arizona.
>
> Posted from iPhone

Why is it a Caltrans problem?????  UP owns and operates the tracks all the way from Mission Tower in LA to Indio.

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Passfanatic Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I hope that increased rail service to the
> > Coachella Valley will get started soon.
> Caltrans
> > needs to let Amtrak run corridor trains from LA
> to
> > Palm Springs and Indio. It would be great to
> > extend this service to Phoenix Arizona.
> >
> > Posted from iPhone
>
> Why is it a Caltrans problem?????  UP owns and
> operates the tracks all the way from Mission Tower
> in LA to Indio.



Substitute "pay" for "let".

The corridor trains running from LA to Indio would be funded by Caltrans so that would be considered a state sponsored corridor train. Of course, if it extends to Phoenix, then Arizona would have to pay for Amtrak. The right of way through the Coachella Valley is owned by UP. However if the corridor train starts running, it's possible that it will follow BNSF to Colton and then it will remain on UP for the duration of the journey.

imagine riding from LA to Indio in a Metrolink car....yikes.  

JohnM Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> imagine riding from LA to Indio in a Metrolink
> car....yikes.  

That's actually feasable since Riverside County is part of Metrolink.
Now find some decent cars and pay either UP or Metrolink run to them.
And LA to Indio is no worse then LA to Oceanside which Metrolink runs everyday.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/20 14:37 by PHall.

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> JohnM Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > imagine riding from LA to Indio in a Metrolink
> > car....yikes.  
>
> That's actually feasable since Riverside County is
> part of Metrolink.
> Now find some decent cars and pay either UP or
> Metrolink to them.
> And LA to Indio is no worse then LA to Oceanside
> which Metrolink runs everyday.



At least you would never find a crowded car.

An idiotic idea that won't die. The market is very small compared to the Surfliner corridior(s). The ex-SP service area between Redlands and the Colorado River is mostly desert. Very low pop density, even less jobs. Palm Springs rail station is over four miles from Palm Springs CBD (which is served by Amtrak bus at PSS)

Far more idiotic than the SCRRA Perris line.

We were looking at variations of Coachela Valley trains in the 90s. Metrolink, Amtrak, other. But it was just so the Riverside and Imperial County politicos would support realistic projects in the other SCRRA & SCAG counties. Nudge nudge, wink wink.

It will never happen. There's not enough money. In general, funds are better spent upgrading existing services, esp closer to jobs.

A search for "Palm Springs" on Amtrak's website turns up neither Palm Springs station (PSN, PSS). They should fix that first, much better benefit/cost ratio.
https://www.amtrak.com/stationsearch.html?view=SearchResults&Address=Palm+Springs%2C+CA

LA to Indio, that is probably Downtown LA, is 128 miles and that is almost how the crow flies. I wouldn't even pay a penny to ride in a Metrolink coach to travel that amount of distance. Here closer to home in the NYC area, the LIRR Montauk Branch takes about 120 miles from NYP but many of those trains do the approximately 100 mile journey from Jamaica to Montauk and those C3 Bilevels aren't really designed for traveling 100 plus miles. The seats are ok as well as legroom but carrying suitcases on those-you can't use overhead racks as they are meant for briefcases.

The LA to Indio train will likely use Amtrak California equipment with ample room to store suitcases as well as legroom. As for stops that the train should make, well it should stop in Fullerton, Riverside, maybe Redlands although there not much in the way of commerce where the UP Yuma Sub passes through Redlands. It misses Downtown Redlands by almost three miles. The LA-Indio Train should stop in Beaumont, maybe Banning, Palm Springs, and Indio. Yes, the Palm Springs Amtrak Station is a ways from the downtown area.

Passfanatic Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> LA to Indio, that is probably Downtown LA, is 128
> miles and that is almost how the crow flies. I
> wouldn't even pay a penny to ride in a Metrolink
> coach to travel that amount of distance. Here
> closer to home in the NYC area, the LIRR Montauk
> Branch takes about 120 miles from NYP but many of
> those trains do the approximately 100 mile journey
> from Jamaica to Montauk and those C3 Bilevels
> aren't really designed for traveling 100 plus
> miles. The seats are ok as well as legroom but
> carrying suitcases on those-you can't use overhead
> racks as they are meant for briefcases.
>
> The LA to Indio train will likely use Amtrak
> California equipment with ample room to store
> suitcases as well as legroom. As for stops that
> the train should make, well it should stop in
> Fullerton, Riverside, maybe Redlands although
> there not much in the way of commerce where the UP
> Yuma Sub passes through Redlands. It misses
> Downtown Redlands by almost three miles. The
> LA-Indio Train should stop in Beaumont, maybe
> Banning, Palm Springs, and Indio. Yes, the Palm
> Springs Amtrak Station is a ways from the downtown
> area.



It won't happen.  Railfans just fan-tasizing.

About the only time there would be any real demand for service to/from Indio is the two weekends of the Coachella music festival and the two weekends of Stagecoach Country Music festival.
So four weekends in a row during the spring. Might be able to get another couple weekends out of the Palm Springs International Film Festival. So six weekends a year. Who want's to put together a bid package?

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> About the only time there would be any real demand
> for service to/from Indio is the two weekends of
> the Coachella music festival and the two weekends
> of Stagecoach Country Music festival.
> So four weekends in a row during the spring. Might
> be able to get another couple weekends out of the
> Palm Springs International Film Festival. So six
> weekends a year. Who want's to put together a bid
> package?



Party train to The Springs https://thedinah.com/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/20 14:48 by Duna.

Does anyone know what went into the decision to build the station at North Palm Springs?

Date Palm Dr or Thousand Palms would have been way better as a station.

did the u.p. agree to this or did i miss that?

66

The Mayor of Palm Springs was behind it.  At the time he was also on the Metrolink Board, representing Riverside County.
Land was in the city of Palm Springs.

The UP agreed to operate some weekend specials during the Music Festivals 2020-2021, subject to have a passenger track, not tie up the main lines.

For full service, then we have another story, such as triple track  Colton - Indio.

Course the BNSF  would want triple track Fullerton - Colton, which is slowly being worked on now.

Funding - Gov't Red tape from Wash DC on down, NO equipment killed the special trains.

Amtrak is short on its own equipment and Caltrans is too.

Posted from iPhone

I am not so sure success would be elusive. The drive from Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley to the LA area is slow and frustrating on I-10.  This rail alternative could catch on quickly if it happened, as did service to Lancaster and Palmdale back in the 1990s.  Just a quick extension on the existing Metrolink Riverside line.


Duna Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PHall Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > JohnM Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > imagine riding from LA to Indio in a
> Metrolink
> > > car....yikes.  
> >
> > That's actually feasable since Riverside County
> is
> > part of Metrolink.
> > Now find some decent cars and pay either UP or
> > Metrolink to them.
> > And LA to Indio is no worse then LA to
> Oceanside
> > which Metrolink runs everyday.
>
>
>
> At least you would never find a crowded car.
>
> An idiotic idea that won't die. The market is very
> small compared to the Surfliner corridior(s). The
> ex-SP service area between Redlands and the
> Colorado River is mostly desert. Very low pop
> density, even less jobs. Palm Springs rail station
> is over four miles from Palm Springs CBD (which is
> served by Amtrak bus at PSS)
>
> Far more idiotic than the SCRRA Perris line.
>
> We were looking at variations of Coachela Valley
> trains in the 90s. Metrolink, Amtrak, other. But
> it was just so the Riverside and Imperial County
> politicos would support realistic projects in the
> other SCRRA & SCAG counties. Nudge nudge, wink
> wink.
>
> It will never happen. There's not enough money. In
> general, funds are better spent upgrading existing
> services, esp closer to jobs.
>
> A search for "Palm Springs" on Amtrak's website
> turns up neither Palm Springs station (PSN, PSS).
> They should fix that first, much better
> benefit/cost ratio.
> https://www.amtrak.com/stationsearch.html?view=Sea
> rchResults&Address=Palm+Springs%2C+CA