American Railway Explorer Ceases Plans For Luxury Trains

[Ronald Mastrogiuseppe]

Posts Tagged ‘philip anschutz’
American Railway Explorer Ceases Plans For Luxury Trains

Plans for a new luxury railroad line have stalled out before ever
leaving the first station. The Denver Post reports that American
Railway Explorer, a new train bankrolled by billionaire Philip
Anschutz is being put on hold. Contractors have stopped working on the
renovation of the vintage rail cars to be used in the line and travel
industry officials were also notified that plans had been cancelled.

American Railway Explorer had planned to start running train
excursions around the U.S. next summer for as much as $1,500 a day per
person. Guests would stay in restored vintage sleeper cars outfitted
with leather, dark wood and sumptuous fabrics and enjoy chef-prepared
meals in a luxury dining car (rendering shown above). The company was
officially announced in May and reservations began in June for trips
in May 2011.

American Railway Explorer is an affiliate of Xanterra Parks and
Resorts, which Anschutz Co. acquired in 2008. We recently wrote about
Xanterra, which manages resorts, restaurants, tours and other
concessions in national parks, state parks and other locations around
the country, when the company purchased the Kingsmill resort in
Virginia.

American Railway Explorer was formerly GrandLuxe Rail Journeys which
closed up shop in 2008 for financial reasons. Before that the company
was formerly known as American Orient Express got a new owner in 2006.
This recent failure does beg the question of whether luxury train
travel is an idea that can succeed in the U.S.

American Railway Explorer Ceases Plans For Luxury Trains originally
appeared on Luxist on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 02:01:00 EST. Please see our
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Philip Anschutz Launching Luxury Train Tours Featuring National Park
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Executives >  Philip Anschutz Launching Luxury Train Tours Featuring
National Park Destinations Tracks and Trailsby Greg Avery  May 27 2010
Billionaire Philip Anschutz' American Railway Explorer will launch
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Summer tour packages include 17 luxury train cars running cross-country routes.
1 of 2
Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz is preparing to launch
cross-country, luxury train tours to take well-heeled passengers to
Niagara Falls, New York, California wine country, and national parks
across the West.

He owns American Railway Explorer Inc., which plans to start offering
tour packages in summer 2011 aboard 17 luxury train cars running a
cross-country route between Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and two
regional excursions.

The company is providing few specifics.

“With the first excursion of American Railway Explorer more than a
year away, we are still working out many of the details,” said Hans
Desai, vice president. “We will provide those details as soon as we
can.”

The company is expected to offer booking this summer for four- to
11-day excursions that link places such as Napa, California, and Sante
Fe, New Mexico, via Los Angeles and the Grand Canyon and Yosemite
national parks; Napa and Jackson, Wyoming, with visits to Crater Lake,
Glacier, and Yellowstone national parks; and Washington, D.C., to Los
Angeles with visits to Niagara Falls, Chicago, and passage through the
Rocky Mountains in Colorado and Utah.

The prices will range from $900 to $1,500 per passenger each night,
according to a post at Anschutz-owned Examiner.com.

American Railway Explorer is Anschutz’s latest foray into the train
business. He used to own the Southern Pacific Railroad, but sold that
investment to Union Pacific Railroad in 1995.

His company wouldn’t disclose how much has been invested in American
Railway Explorer.

It matches the Anschutz Co. pattern of building or buying things that
are more profitable after being fit together: the live-music
promotions and global venue owner AEG Worldwide; the Los Angeles Kings
hockey team and the Staples Center in that city; and Regal
Entertainment movie theater chain, National CineMedia technology
company, and the Anschutz Film Group movie studio.

American Railway Explorer has the potential to ferry wealthy customers
to national parks, where Anschutz-owned Xanterra Parks & Resorts
operates concession services. Xanterra parks include Yellowstone, the
Grand Canyon (and its tourist train), and Crater Lake.


Read more: http://www.portfolio.com/companies-executives/2010/05/27/philip-anschutz-launching-luxury-train-tours-featuring-national-park-destinations/#ixzz0vyu7qMaI


  PREV 2 of 2
With the luxury railroad’s shortest trips expected to approach $10,000
for a couple, the service would be unlike any scheduled train service
in the United States, said Adam Auxier, a private rail tour operator.
His Denver, Colorado-based Altiplano Railway Tours organizes a couple
of trips a year aboard private cars towed by Amtrak trains to
destinations such as Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana.

The American Railway Explorer concept would make financial sense only
because of its connection to Xanterra, Auxier said.

“There’s really no upscale way to get to any of these parks—they’re
hard places to get to,” he said. Yet millions of people go to the
parks anyway, Auxier noted. “There’s got to be some percentage of
people who want to get there by rail.”

The rail tour most comparable to the kind of five-star cruise the
American Railway Explorer website promises may be a luxury service in
South Africa that connects big-game safari parks and tourist
destination cities, Auxier said.

American Railway Explorer bought the train cars that had operated as
the cross-country American Orient Express and then Grande Luxe
railroads, both of which offered a more limited number of tours before
going out of business.

Some of the Grande Luxe rail cars are being extensively refurbished at
the Burnham Shops railroad yard in Denver, Auxier said.

Maintenance was done there on the defunct Ski Train that Anschutz’s
ANSCO Investment Co. ran between Denver and Winter Park, Colorado.

That company sold the Ski Train last year. ANSCO reincorporated in
March as American Railway Explorer.

The demand for its luxury railroad excursions isn’t clear because
there’s no real comparable service, said Russ Capon, president and CEO
of the National Association of Rail Passengers.

Typical train services are expected to see some improved ridership
thanks to a resurgent economy, Capon said.

“Maybe the market for this kind of luxury is coming back too, I don’t
know,” he said.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greg Avery writes for the Denver Business Journal

Read more: http://www.portfolio.com/companies-executives/2010/05/27/philip-anschutz-launching-luxury-train-tours-featuring-national-park-destinations/index1.html#ixzz0vyte1poI