Desert Wind

For the album, see Desert Wind (album).

Desert Wind

The Desert Wind in the Cajon Pass in 1991
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Status	Discontinued
Locale	Western United States
Predecessor	Las Vegas Limited
First service	October 28, 1979
Last service	May 10, 1997
Former operator(s)	Amtrak
Route
Termini	Chicago, Illinois Los Angeles, California
Distance travelled	2,397 miles (3,858 km)
Average journey time	48 hours 30 minutes
Service frequency	Three days per week
Train number(s)	35, 36
On-board services
Class(es)	First class (sleepers) Reserved coach
Sleeping arrangements	Bedrooms Roomettes
Catering facilities	Dining car On-board cafe
Observation facilities	Sightseer lounge
Technical
Rolling stock	Superliners
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Route map 0 mi Chicago 28 mi 45 km Naperville 38 mi 61 km Aurora Bypassed 1983 104 mi 167 km Princeton 162 mi 261 km Galesburg Southwest Chief to Los Angeles IL IA 205 mi 330 km Burlington 233 mi 375 km Mount Pleasant 280 mi 451 km Ottumwa 360 mi 579 km Osceola 393 mi 632 km Creston IA NE 501 mi 806 km Omaha 555 mi 893 km Lincoln 652 mi 1049 km Hastings 706 mi 1136 km Holdrege 784 mi 1262 km McCook NE CO Akron (closed 1987) 960 mi 1545 km Fort Morgan 1037 mi 1669 km Denver Pre-1983 route 1100 mi 1770 km Fraser–Winter Park 1113 mi 1791 km Granby 1222 mi 1967 km Glenwood Springs 1312 mi 2111 km Grand Junction 1090 mi 1754 km Greeley CO WY 1141 mi 1836 km Borie 1187 mi 1910 km Laramie 1304 mi 2099 km Rawlins 1424 mi 2292 km Rock Springs 1437 mi 2313 km Green River 1539 mi 2477 km Evanston CO UT WY UT 1390 mi 2237 km Thompson 1417 mi 2280 km Green River Closed 1983 1489 mi 2396 km Helper 1564 mi 2517 km Provo 1614 mi 2597 km Ogden Pioneer to Seattle 1609 mi 2589 km Salt Lake City–DRGW California Zephyr to Oakland 1741 mi 2802 km Delta 1983–1988 1815 mi 2921 km Milford UT NV 1931 mi 3108 km Caliente 1981–1993 2057 mi 3310 km Las Vegas NV CA Southwest Chief to Chicago 2241 mi 3607 km Barstow 2279 mi 3668 km Victorville 2325 mi 3742 km San Bernardino Pre-1986 route 2371 mi 3816 km Fullerton 2355 mi 3790 km Pomona 2380 mi 3830 km Pasadena 2397 mi 3858 km Los Angeles

The Desert Wind was an Amtrak long-distance passenger train that ran from 1979 to 1997. It operated from Chicago to Los Angeles as a section of the California Zephyr, serving Los Angeles via Salt Lake City; Ogden, Utah; and Las Vegas.

History

UP #932, an EMD E8, leading the City of Los Angeles into Union Station in Los Angeles in March 1971, just prior to discontinuation

Two Desert Wind trains meet on the east side of Cajon Pass in 1981

In the late 1960s, prior to the creation of Amtrak, the Union Pacific Railroad combined its long-distance streamliners between Chicago, Kansas City, and the West Coast into a single massive train dubbed by critics the "City of Everywhere". This train included the Challenger, the City of Denver, the City of Kansas City, the City of Los Angeles, the City of Portland, and the City of San Francisco. At one point, it ran up to 27 cars. The City of Los Angeles separated from this behemoth at Ogden, Utah, to serve Los Angeles via Las Vegas. Of these, Amtrak retained portions of the City of Kansas City and the City of San Francisco for its Chicago – San Francisco service, which it named the San Francisco Zephyr. Regular service to Las Vegas ended in the early morning hours of May 2, 1971, when the westbound City of Los Angeles made its last station stop on its final trip to its namesake city.

Throughout the 1970s, there were brief attempts to revive service to Las Vegas in the form of charters and excursions, plus one regularly scheduled weekend-only train called the Las Vegas Limited, which ran for four months in 1976. Matters came to a head in 1979, as Amtrak faced significant political pressure to cut costs and reduce the size of its national network. Senator Howard Cannon (D-Nevada) pushed Amtrak hard to create a train which served Las Vegas, and Amtrak considered replacing the Southwest Limited, its existing Chicago – Los Angeles train, with such a service. In the end, the Southwest Limited remained and Amtrak introduced the Desert Wind, which made its first run on October 28, 1979.

The original Desert Wind was a day train with Amfleet equipment. The northbound train left Los Angeles mid-day and arrived in Ogden the following morning to connect with the eastbound San Francisco Zephyr. The southbound departed Ogden in the middle of the night after the arrival of the westbound San Francisco Zephyr from Chicago and arrived in Los Angeles in late afternoon. The 811-mile (1,305 km) journey took eighteen hours. Beginning in 1980, the Desert Wind exchanged a Chicago – Los Angeles through coach with the San Francisco Zephyr at Ogden; this service expanded in 1982 to include a sleeping car.

Caliente, Nevada, was added to the timetable on October 25, 1981, while Delta, Utah, was added April 24, 1983.

After the renamed and rerouted California Zephyr began using the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad main line in 1983, the Desert Wind began connecting with the Zephyr at Salt Lake City. Later, the Desert Wind and the Seattle-bound Pioneer would operate together with the California Zephyr from Chicago to Salt Lake City, where the trains separated. This created a train of 16 Superliner cars running from Chicago to Utah, the longest that Amtrak had ever operated aside from the Auto Train. With Amtrak needing at least four locomotives to pull this massive train through the Rockies, the Pioneer began splitting off at Denver in 1991, while the Desert Wind continued to split from the Zephyr at Salt Lake City.

The Desert Wind was discontinued on May 12, 1997, a victim of Amtrak's recurring budget cuts that also eliminated the Pioneer days earlier. Train service was replaced with a Los Angeles – Las Vegas Amtrak Thruway service. At that time, rail service between Los Angeles and Las Vegas took 7 hours 15 minutes.

Proposed restoration

There are several private, competing plans to restore rail service from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, including the high-speed Brightline West and the more conventional X Train and Z-Train.

A Los Angeles – Las Vegas route run by Amtrak nearly entered service in 2000. A Talgo VII trainset was bought for the service in 1999; when it was not implemented, the trainset was later used on the Amtrak Cascades service.

Also, as of 2011, new routes were being considered, including routes using the same track as the original Desert Wind, and routes using the Metrolink San Bernardino Line. Lack of funding and congestion through the Cajon Pass remained significant obstacles. More recent proposals using high-speed rail have suggested routing through Victorville and connecting with California's high-speed rail project in Palmdale, assuming the California project can secure funding for a connection from Bakersfield to Los Angeles.

The route has some merit for Amtrak, as the July 2010 issue of Trains listed the route as one to be restored in conjunction with upgrading the equipment on the California Zephyr. In 2021, Amtrak announced a Los Angeles to Las Vegas train service as part of a new expansion proposal.

In June 2021, Senator Jon Tester (D-Montana) added an amendment to the Surface Transportation Investment Act of 2021 which requires the Department of Transportation (not Amtrak itself) to evaluate the restoration of discontinued long-distance routes, such as the Desert Wind. The bill passed the Senate Commerce Committee with bipartisan support, and was later rolled into President Biden's Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which was passed into law in November 2021. The report must be delivered to Congress within two years. The law also provides $2.4 billion in new funds to Amtrak's long-distance route network.

On October 28, 2022, the FRA announced the beginning of the Amtrak Daily Long-Distance Service Study as required by the IIJA. Its purpose is to evaluate the restoration and addition of discontinued and new long-distance passenger services, as well as the upgrading of tri-weekly long-distance services (the Sunset Limited and the Cardinal) to daily operation. The criteria for either restoring or creating new long-distance routes are that they connect large and small communities as part of a "regional rail network", provide economic and social well-being for rural areas, provide "enhanced connectivity" for the existing long-distance passenger trains, and reflect the support and engagement of the locals and region for restored long-distance passenger service. These criteria include the Desert Wind, among other trains. The study will take place through 2023, and will engage with stakeholders, the rail companies, and communities as it evaluates "how to better connect people with long-distance rail services".

See also

• North Coast Hiawatha

External links

• Trainweb: Amtrak Desert Wind - Train #35 & 36