Should union pacific be made to allow Amtrak on the Tehachapi loop?

Th e other reason the buses work quite well , is that only around 1/2 of them go to LAUS. The others go direct to other suburbs / cities. A train can't do that in a spread out megapolis like L.A

David Benton wrote: ↑Sat Feb 20, 2021 3:15 am Th e other reason the buses work quite well , is that only around 1/2 of them go to LAUS. The others go direct to other suburbs / cities. A train can't do that in a spread out megapolis like L.A

That used to be not so true. At one time, Southern Pacific had two exits from downtown Los Angeles, one into the valley and up to San Francisco ( the coast route) and one from Los Angeles to Palm Springs, the Golden State/Sunset route.

Union Pacific had a single exit, working through Riverside to San Bernardino and then joining with the Santa Fe up in the Cajon as far as Barstow.

Santa Fe had two passenger exits: one to San Diego, the other out through Pasadena to San Bernardino and up into Cajon.

Most of these are the routes of the coast starlight, the southwest chief, whatever they’re calling the San Diegans is this week, and the sunset limited.

PS: this does not exclude include the former Southern Pacific/Pacific electric Red Car system.

Even if freight train congestion on the Tehachapi Loop weren't an issue, a trip on the San Joaquin over Tehachapi would still take twice as long as the current thruway bus connection, as it would be much more circuitous and run at much slower speeds (due to the mountains) than the connecting bus travels. This is evidenced by a YouTube video taken a few years ago from the rear platform of a private observation car attached to a detouring Coast Starlight covering the ride (in real-time) from Mojave to Bakersfield. The full video was a little over two hours long! This doesn't even include the trip from LA to Mojave (not covered by the video), which is another 2-3 hours. This means that it would take about 4-5 hours just to get from Bakersfield to LA over Tehachapi, while the current thruway bus connection takes about two hours at the most, even with LA traffic factored in.

LA would likely be a non-starter. However, there could still be some benefit in continuing a San Joaquin train down to Barstow on the BNSF. Through car service could be provided connecting with #3 and #4 east, mimicing the old San Francisco Chief. If the state of California were to want this service, it would probably happen.