Dreamstar Lines Inc. calls the experience a premium overnight hotel train passenger train service, saying passengers can board trains in a city center or suburban station, fall asleep in a private room and wake up at their destination.
A short-haul flight is anything but when you consider the time lost to check-in, security, and travel to and from remote airports, it said on its website. You can spend fewer hours traveling on a deluxe sleeper than you would on a regular airplane, allowing you to spend more time traveling than flying. And you don't arrive feeling like you've already had a full day of work. The trains would leave at about 10 p.m. and arrive at around 8 p.m. Dreamstar said in a statement.
The tickets will be $30,000 to $15,000, with an aim to charge less than Amtrak.
The privately funded Newport Beach-based company is currently in talks to improve its staffing, rail cars, financing and other logistics. The new train is not yet named, and would share the same route that Amtrak's Coast Starlight uses during the day.
It would be modern, with electronic ticket sales and an app to help with services.
Dreamstar founder Tom Eastmond said the company is in talks with Metrolink and Union Pacific Railroad. The train will also stop at existing stations, necessitating further agreements.
While Eastmond said the service would start as soon as later this year, it said it hopes to start service in summer 2024, with the possibility of expanding to other U.S. routes.
In our investment pitch, we re saying we make a decent profit with six cars, he said. The model is driven by about 45,000 riders per year, or 62 per train. This would be a 75% load factor.