http://gty.im/166177577
Traffic in and out of LA sucks. But what if you did not have to worry about getting stuck in traffic every time you went out to see a Dodger game, take in a day at the beach, or see a show in Hollywood? Hell, wouldn’t it just be nice to have a Monday after Coachella not be a traffic nightmare? That could actually happen, as Riverside County is entering preliminary planning on daily Amtrak service from Indio to Los Angeles.
The Riverside County Transportation Commission was awarded a 2.98 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration to study possible routes, an environmental impact and develop a a service plan.
They are asking for your input on the project with a survey which can be found here.
Currently, Amtrak offers rail service to Los Angeles from a station in North Palm Springs, but departure times are awful – with departures between 2 and 2am (super convenient!) and only a few days a week. The new plan calls for one round-trip each day, with two stops in the Coachella Valley and one in the San Gorgonio Pass. And while one round-trip each day is not ideal for taking in a ball game or a concert, at least it is a start. And surely better than the service that exists now.
Daryl Busch, who chairs the RCTC says, “Our desert communities are known throughout the world, but there needs to be another way to get there besides having to drive on Interstate 10.”
[adsanity id=13143 align=alignleft /]
