How much longer can the Las Vegas Monorail last?

Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority officials want to spend millions of dollars to extend the life of the Las Vegas Monorail for at least another decade.

The system, which is more than 20 years old, needs $12 million in upgrades to remain operable until at least 2035, Ed Finger, convention authority chief strategy officer, announced last week during the tourism agency’s monthly board meeting.

“We believe we can keep this thing going well for 10 years or more,” Finger said during the meeting.

A number of items tied to enhancing the monorail will be presented in the coming months at future LVCVA board meetings.

Planned improvements include replacing the train control system, which tracks where all trains are at all times. The convention authority estimates that this upgrade will carry the largest cost at between $6 million and $8 million.

Other upgrades will include replacing the monorail’s ticket vending machines and moving to a ticketless, cashless system.

Extending operation goal

The authority purchased the struggling monorail in 2020 for $24 million. The 3.9-mile system cost $650 million to build when it opened in 2004. When the convention authority first acquired the system, it was believed the monorail could last until 2030 before it would need to be decommissioned.

After taking over the system, the authority hired an outside firm to operate the monorail, while overseeing its performance and adding measures to improve its operation. That included better operational integration with the trade shows the Las Vegas Convention Center hosts to boost ridership and marketing.

The monorail features six stations stretching from the MGM Grand in the south to the Westgate in the north. The system is a key people mover during major conventions and Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend, and it will be a part of the transportation plan for the Athletics’ MLB ballpark, which will be built on 9 acres of the former Tropicana site located across from the MGM Grand station. The $1.75 billion, 33,000-fan capacity stadium is planned to open in 2028.

System turnaround

The system has operated at a positive cash flow and seen ridership increase each year since the authority took over the system, outside of pandemic-impacted 2021, Finger noted.

After the outside firm examined the monorail system and reported that it could last at least another 10 years with the needed enhancements, LVCVA President and CEO Steve Hill said the agency was on board with the plan.

“Not just to make it last 10 years, but really to get it to three to five years in a reliable way,” Hill told the Review-Journal following last week’s board meeting. “But the structural parts of the system have the ability to last to 2035 the way we’re … maintaining them. We want to preserve that option.”

Boring option

Even with plans to expand the Boring Co.’s underground transportation system across the resort corridor and downtown, Hill said the monorail remains an important transportation option. When the Vegas Loop is close to its full build-out of 104 stations and 68 miles of tunnels, the monorail will eventually become financially unviable.

“But until that happens, we need that as an option,” Hill said. “We want to preserve the monorail for as long as it makes sense for the monorail to operate. It’s carrying around 6 million passengers a year. … If you put them in cars, it would really add to the congestion we have. That’s not really an expensive investment in the monorail, to make sure that we have the option to continue to run it for another 10 years.”

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.