because the only Night Train I'm gonna take is the jazz piece by Oscar Peterson or the song by James Brown.
Posted on 03/25/2024 9:14:17 PM PDT by thecodont
The California company working to start a deluxe overnight passenger train between San Francisco and Los Angeles says it has signed a “landmark memorandum” with Union Pacific Railroad.
It’s not a final contract, but Dreamstar Lines of Newport Beach said the memorandum of understanding “formaliz[es] the parties’ negotiations toward a comprehensive final agreement” and “identifies the fundamental terms for Dreamstar to operate its trains” on UP’s Coast Line via Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and San Jose.
Dreamstar wants to start the service in summer 2025. Union Pacific owns most of the 470-mile route. To complete the link between San Francisco and Los Angeles, Dreamstar also needs agreements to use tracks owned by regional transit operators Caltrain and Metrolink.
“We’re in talks with both and working towards acceptable terms for track access,” said Dreamstar CEO Joshua Dominic. “Both have been wonderful to work with and communicated interest toward getting our trains rolling.”
Union Pacific, responding to Dreamstar’s press release announcing the MOU, said only that it “has entered into formal negotiations with Dreamstar regarding proposed overnight passenger service between Los Angeles and San Francisco.”
The Coast Line is home to Amtrak’s Coast Starlight, which runs from San Jose to Los Angeles during the day. The route once hosted Southern Pacific railroad’s fabled overnight first-class Lark.
Most U.S. travelers abandoned trains for driving or flying decades ago, but Dreamstar believes congested roads and the hassles and environmental cost of air travel create an opening for its service. Passengers could sleep most of the way. No night train has connected the Bay Area and Los Angeles since 1983.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I wouldn't want to be waken up in the middle of the night to transfer from a train to a bus and back to a train.
Cool, so you can take a 8-10 hour trip on a train or hop a flight and get there in under 2 hours.
Amtrak never operated to San Francisco, so the last train from LA to SF was on April Fool’s Day of 1971. For some reason I’ll never fathom, Nixon chose to create Amtrak instead of deregulating passenger rail to reduce their operating costs.
Sure, if you don’t mind riding BART out of SFO.
Won’t work. Trains take you to a train station. Cars take you to your destination.
I had a 45 rpm single of someone’s instrumental of this song Night Train but it was in the first half of the 1960s, I think. Many people did versions. Can’t spend time to find it but someone said it was played on a Back to the Future soundtrack, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9inzaw1Hpk
—”Cool, so you can take a 8-10 hour trip on a train or hop a flight and get there in under 2 hours.”
A friend was attending a family event about a five-hour drive away.
I said you can drive it in less time DOOR-DOOR, considering airport parking and going in two hours early... and you have your car with you.
His flight was delayed and he missed the last bus from the airport...
His travel time was over 12 hours and he had to rent a car.
“The last time I checked, rail transport from Los Angeles to San Francisco involved some transfer to and traveling on a bus”
Yep, my Mother took the train from Fullerton to the Bay area a number of times. I’m thinking the last time was 20102 or there about. There was a train to train transfer and a bus transfer for part of the journey. Looking at current train tickets for this route, the train to train transfer is in Bakersfield and from Emeryville to S.F. it is bus.
“2012”
Take your scooter on board.
because the only Night Train I'm gonna take is the jazz piece by Oscar Peterson or the song by James Brown.
Looking at current train tickets for this route, the train to train transfer is in Bakersfield and from Emeryville to S.F. it is bus.
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I think the bus-train-train-bus-train route is the fastest one.
There is an Amtrak going the whole way, but is is so slow, that the transfers actually speed the travel up!
For some reason, it is the slowest of Amtrak scheduled trains, goin like 15 mi/h.
If they would be able to speed up the train, this may work.
But I would say, the train speed is probably caused by track issues, which would be beyond control of anybody.
IIRC the LA to Portland stopped in Oakland
Nixon was a card-carrying Member of what we’ve come to despise as the Establishment GOP Country Club. He not only created Amtrak but the lovely and easy-to-do-business-with EPA.
Charming.
To the last.
Most track speed issues are due to the Federal Railroad Administration and their regulation mandates with respect to passenger trains. Most of these are due to signaling mandates, e.g. faster than 79 mph top speed (centralized train control and Class 4 track) would require adding cab signaling, automatic train stop and an increase in track classes that requires more stringent accuracy in track gauge, heavier rails (115 lbs per yard or greater), concrete ties, etc.
For example, the northeast corridor (former Pennsylvania RR) under Amtrak’s ownership has 140 lb/yard rails. Believe it or not, a lot of new “light rail” tracks have 115 lb/yd rails, even when they aren’t required to share with freight trains.
Nixon caved into the “politics “ demanding an EPA be created. Same with Amtrak being created because we needed to have government owned\run passenger service just like the enlightened European & Japanese.
Yes.
The train speed is mostly a function of track quality. (also curves and vertical profile)
Trains, even a current ones, are able to travel up to 150mi/h. (Acela top speed) which would be acceptable in the SF to LA distance of about 400 mi. (about 3 hours).
Since the flights takes about 1.5 hour and one has to be there like 1-1,5 hours ahead, and then wait for checking and check out luggage’s, the small seats, the noise of planes.
3 hours of train would be definitely competitive with airlines and beat the cars.
So radical upgrade of existing tracks would be probably quite competitive.
Unfortunately, I doubt that Union Pacific is ready for radical upgrade of their existing tracks.
Without that, Dreamstar could be maybe able to speed up to 30-40mi/h. Clearly uncompetirive with either plane or Car.
So we need this monstrosity of high sped train, which will never happened.
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