Did you know that there's a train in downtown Las Vegas? It's not what you might think. It's a monorail.
The Las Vegas Monorail is owned and maintained by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The route is just under 4 miles long and runs from the Sahara hotel on the north end of the Strip to the MGM Grand on the south. As you might expect, it has a stop at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Here are some interesting tidbits from the Wikipedia entry.
- It opened in 1995 and ran between the MGM Grand and Bally's hotels.
- The two original trains each ran back and forth on their own track. No switching.
- The same two trains had previously operated on the Walt Disney World monorail.
- It was closed in 2002 for extension north to the Sahara, and south to a new depot where additional trains could be switched in and out.
- Revenue is generated from ticketed passengers and corporate sponsors.
- The trains and signaling systems were developed by Bombardier Transportation, a Canadian-German company since acquired by the French company, Alstom.
- It was patterned after the Walt Disney World monorail because the technology was well-proven.
We rode the monorail along its entire length and back on the only day we visited a casino (more on that in the next post). Tickets were $5 per person per ride – well worth the unique experience.
I don't think I got very good photos of the monorail. I guess I was too busy enjoying the ride. The cover image is an abstract of the track from below. Here is a picture of one train from inside a station ...
... and another of the front of our train as it rounds a curve.
