A Nice Article

Thanks for sharing. It seems owning and using a private rail car makes buying an airplane look like a cost-cutting move. 

looks like a hobby for

looks like a hobby for billionaires.

one car can cost more than a 3000 ft house. (even in california), then all the other costs. just for a "weekend trip".

if amtrack wanted to get more cash from the west coast, first make the coast star light two times a day. bring back something from lax to sin city. get the casinos into this, as it would bring in more cash, include a oakland to reno train. and get the san joaquin over tachapee pass (during the day) to barstow (night through the desert) for a connection.

LA to Vegas Train

Agree that LA to Vegas has profit potential. 270 miles and about 5 (boring) hours by car; six hours by bus. Of course, flight time is just over an hour. If the train could make the trip in around four hours, it would be somewhat competitive with the door-to-door air travel time, and a much better travel experience. Perhaps the train could offer a casino experience while within Nevada: gambling and complimentary food/drink. Casinos could offer ride-and-room packages. I've not heard of such a service ever offered, but would be surprised if no one has seriously looked at it. 

Still cheaper than planes

My wife's cousin has a small, personal jet and it was much more of a money sink than these.  It was just over $50K a month to have it sit on the ground.  By comparison, $18K per month to store them in Amtrak's yard is fairly inexpensive.  

I'm not so sure about the economics of Vegas

In NJ, service existed from NYC to Atlantic City  (express, at that)... or Phila to AC... only the Phila-AC leg exists - as a commuter run.

Seems casinos aren't the draw that you'd think, and are stingier than you'd think... then again. the NYC train was during the Trump era... when his last casino went bankrupt, (Imagine, a Casino going Bankrupt!) his assets and the city were in shambles!

Train to Las Vegas