[Hatman]

If Brightline is going to use the same type of diesel consists they use in Florida, what are the chances of those trains merging onto BNSF in Victorville and then continuing the route of the Southwest Chief into LA? Stops at San Bernadino and Fullerton ought to be popular as well. From Amtrak's schedule, going from LA to Victorville takes just less than 3 hours. Add to that the less-than 2 hours it will take to go the remaining distance to Las Vegas, and you've got yourself a 4.5 hour service, which is still faster than taking a car if there is any sort of traffic.

(Today on Google Maps the route was projected to take 4.5 hours without traffic, but 5.5 hours in real world conditions at the time.)

4.5 hours is not ideal, but it is exactly as long as the Amtrak Northeast Regional trains take to get between New York and Boston, and those trains purportedly also operate profitably.

I think this would be an ideal temporary until the California High Speed Rail opens their line from LA to Palmdale. Building the Palmdale connection now and having all the passengers transfer onto Metrolink trains is a bad idea, and even by having the Brightline trains continue into LA via the Metrolink route would miss places like San Bernadino and Fullerton, where riders could transfer from other Metrolink routes or simply just drive to those places and avoid downtown LA. I really hope that this is one of the options Brightline is looking at, because to me it makes the most sense. At least they have time to strike the right deals with BNSF/Amtrak, since the line won't open until 2021 at least.