Las Vegas unveils $650 million monorail

By Mike Lindblom
Seattle Times staff reporter

ALAN BERNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES It's a crowded inaugural run of the Las Vegas monorail as Car No. 3 fills with local performers, including a Chippendales dancer, Julius Caesar and Cleopatra.

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The new Las Vegas monorail will be seen and ridden by millions — and watched closely in Seattle because the train builder, Bombardier, is competing to supply the proposed 14-mile Green Line to link Ballard, Seattle Center, downtown and West Seattle.

The average visitor to the Las Vegas Strip stops at six casinos, local convention officials say, making the monorail an alternative to sitting in traffic a half-hour or longer. This week, temperatures outside the air-conditioned trains and casinos have exceeded 100 degrees.

Public service begins this morning, delayed six months in part because of glitches in the train-control system. A ride costs $3 each way over the four-mile route, with groundbreaking planned this spring for an extension downtown. The tracks are designed to allow for other extensions to the airport and a spur to the west.

Las Vegas officials called the project a challenge, even though the money is completely supplied by the casinos, advertisers and rider fares.

	ALAN BERNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES The Monorail at the MGM Grand station after its inaugural run.

Still, Bruce Woodbury, chairman of the regional transit commission, said, "We're a community with a vision. We see something in our mind's eye, we make something happen, we go out and build it."

The first ride, from the MGM to the Sahara, was a bit bumpy at first, where builders incorporated a three-decade-old track section into the line. Speeds peaked at 50 mph, and the ride was smoother the faster the train moved.

Along the way, the train picked up "Star Trek" characters, showgirls, Chippendales male dancers and soul star Gladys Knight. The trains transporting news reporters, dignitaries and performers seemed almost filled with only about 160 persons — or 40 in each of the four cars — even though Bombardier's official figure for capacity is 224 riders.

Asked whether these cars could handle Seattle-commute peaks, as well as festivals, Tom Stone of Transmax Group, organizing Bombardier's teams in both cities, said, "We're going to make a few changes." He would not elaborate.

Seattle is spending between $4 billion and $4.5 billion in public taxes to pay for its first 28 miles of monorail and light rail, amid controversy and litigation.

Bids on the Green Line are due in about four weeks. By then, promoters here in Las Vegas should have an idea of whether visitors would rather cruise on The Strip or make a faster hop between the back doors of the casinos.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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