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GrandLuxe rail company reportedly shuts down

$GrandLuxe train at Denver\'s Union Staton$

GrandLuxe Rail Journeys, which runs luxury train tours in the U.S. and Mexico, is halting operations this week, customers are being told. Officials of the Evergreen, Colorado, company, formerly American Orient Express, did not return phone calls seeking comment. The company website gave no hint of problems.

But Bob McMillen, chief executive of Travelwizard.com, a company in San Rafael, California, that books luxury travel, said GrandLuxe today sent a letter to customers stating that it “will cease operations with the return of the train to Tacoma [Washington] on Thursday morning, Aug. 28, 2008.” The notice said the company was “financially unable” to continue operations.

The letter added: “We know this raises many questions including ‘will I get my money back.’ At this time, we just do not have many answers to your questions.”

Amtrak, which provides locomotives and conductors for GrandLuxe, was notified Tuesday that the tour operator would cease operations, said spokeswoman Vernae Graham. She declined further comment.

One thing is clear: Travelers could be left on the hook for thousands of dollars each. Fares for one four-day trip through the Western U.S. started at $2,490 per person, GrandLuxe’s website showed; eight-day trips started at $5,790.

Update: An employee who answered GrandLuxe’s reservation line this afternoon confirmed that the company is halting its operations. She declined to give her name, saying she had been told to refer media calls to Tom Rader, the company’s chairman. As of 4 p.m. today, he had not returned my calls.

— Jane Engle, assistant Los Angeles Times Travel editor

[Photo: GrandLuxe Rail Journeys train at Denver's Union Station; grandluxerail.com]

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2008 at 2:08 pm by Jane Engle and is filed under Luxury Travel, National Parks, Rail Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

One Comment on “GrandLuxe rail company reportedly shuts down”

GLR Crew Aid Says:
September 4th, 2008 at 2:15 am
The crew working aboard Grand Luxe weren’t informed of their job loss until August 27th - while the passengers were on tour, the crew were all informed that they had one day of employment left. The crew were also informed that their health insurance would expire August 31st. This was the total extent of notice given.

Two couples amongst the staff were in the middle of mortgage proceedings. Most of the crew had no home of their own and would be forced to impose on friends or family. Others had pending doctor appointments which now will be unaffordable.

We’ve started a fund to aid those crew members who have been severely burdened by their sudden lack of work/housing - any donations can be sent via PayPal to glr.crew.aid@gmail.com.

Thank you.