Why is there no Amtrak service to and from Las Vegas Nevada?

I was looking on the Amtrak site and I found a few listings or bus stops in Nevada. Do these mean Greyhound stops? Where does it take you?

Because Amtrak is a federally-owned corporation that is subject to a Congress that hampers it from running profitably then criticizes it for operating at a loss.

As for the bus stops: Amtrak offers bus connections to some locations that are not serviced by their trains. Although I’m not sure if these buses are operated by Amtrak itself or contracted through third party operators.

My guess is that airfare is cheap enough that train service was not popular. And the flight is only 1 hour.

This article says train service stopped in 1997. The train took 8 hours (much slower than driving) and ridership was low.

But you are not alone in wanting a train to Vegas. There is a company planning a high speed train from SoCal.

High-speed rail from LA to Las Vegas gets on track

Here is a US map on where the trains travel, along with connecting paths by other means of public transport.

This is just a wild guess, but the reason Amtrack doesn’t expand their travel locations is that it costs more money than they are making in profits. Another reason is that flying in and out of LV can be dirt cheap.

Amtrak is a coast-to-coast kind of a thing. Las Vegas isn’t on the main Southern Pacific line to New York or points east. Also, the rails through Las Vegas are most likely a single set of tracks used more extensively for freight trains that would greatly slow down a passenger train like Amtrak, if it were to go through there.
The main (Southern Pacific) line splits just east of Barstow, CA and the portion of the line you ask about goes North-East through Yermo, Kelso, Cima, Nipton, (crosses Cal-Nev border) Jean, Sloan, Las Vegas, Dry Lake, Moapa, (heads North) and Carp. Near Caliente, Nev. the line enters Utah heading North-East through numerous other small burgs to finally intersect with the Union Pacific main line in Salt Lake City.

You can take Amtrak to Kingman, AZ, then take Greyhound to Las Vegas.

@kritiper “Amtrak is a coast-to-coast kind of a thing.”

And that’s the problem. Nobody wants to take a train to get across the country. Flying is much quicker, and likely cheaper too. The only reason to ride the train cross-country is for the romanticism of taking a train across the nation. Because of this Amtrak bleeds money, but they must maintain cross-country service. Where Amtrak does well, and can even operate at a profit, is in shorter regional service. Like in my home state, Illinois, the line that connects Chicago, Champaign and Carbondale is one of their most profitable lines.

“Also, the rails through Las Vegas are most likely a single set of tracks used more extensively for freight trains that would greatly slow down a passenger train like Amtrak, if it were to go through there.”

Actually, outside of the DC-Boston corridor Amtrak doesn’t own much rail and leases trackage rights from the freight carriers. So most Amtrak trains do run on rails that carry freight trains.

@Darth_Algar That is true, But in so many areas where Amtrak runs on the same rails as freight trains, there are two sets of tracks. When allowing for passenger trains to run on freight train routes that have a single set of tracks, more delays are caused because the passenger trains run faster that the freights, so the freights always have to sit on a siding and wait, thus slowing down the freight train shipping system
If a small passenger train did run into Las Vegas, and only to Las Vegas and not on to Salt Lake, the train would have to be turned around at Las Vegas and, say, Barstow, there would have to be a station at Las Vegas and Barstow. If the passenger service extended into LA, there would be that much more congestion on that rail system section. Also repair service facility for that passenger train company would be needed and/or allowed somewhere.
A high speed passenger train service would/should/could require it’s own set of non-interfering, non-intersecting tracks, which isn’t a bad thing.
Granted, it is cheaper and faster to take a plane from Salt Lake to Las Vegas, or LA to Las Vegas, or some other air line hub. I never meant to imply that it wasn’t.