Dreamstar Lines


Dreamstar Lines is a privately owned passenger railroad company based in Newport Beach, California. Dreamstar is planning a nightly inter-city service between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The train would share the same routes as Amtrak, Metrolink, and Caltrain. Service is anticipated to launch in 2026, succeeding the Lark that ended in 1968.

History

Jake Vollebregt and Thomas Eastmond founded Dreamstar Lines in Newport Beach, CA. By 2023, the company publicized plans for an overnight "hotel train" as an alternative to flying, reviving a service that had discontinued 55 years prior. In April 2024, Joshua Dominic assumed leadership of the project. That month, Dreamstar signed a memorandum of understanding with Union Pacific Railroad to operate trains on its right-of-way. On November 13, 2024, BMW's Santa Monica-based Designworks entered contracts to draw up railcar design concepts. In November 2025, Dreamstar announced a joint venture with Zero-Emission Locomotive Technologies and HyOrc to develop and acquire Rankine-powered hybrid locomotives.

Service

Overview

Under Dreamstar's current proposal, two trains, one headed north and one headed south, would run every night, departing from each terminus at 10:00p.m. and arriving at their final destination the next day at 8:30a.m. This schedule is similar to the red-eye travel used in commercial flying. The trains would have intermediate station stops and crew turnovers in San Jose, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara, points near each end of the route.
Dreamstar's trainsets would consist of restored historic bi-level cars. Onboard amenities include two sleeping arrangements; private rooms with lie-flat beds and premium bedrooms; a lounge with open seating and bar, as well as breakfast delivery. The amenities would be split among four planned classes: family, bedroom, suite, and standard. The standard class would be the highest class on level with first class on international flights. A tentative part of the plan by Dreamstar would also allow passengers to transport their automobiles on the train, an accommodation not dissimilar to Amtrak's Auto Train on the East Coast.
Dreamstar is expected to commence service in 2026, ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Route description

Under the plan, Dreamstar would operate between Union Station in Los Angeles and 4th and King Street station in San Francisco. The train would travel through California's Central Coast region on a railroad line known as the "Coast Line", which is owned by Union Pacific and also serves Amtrak's Coast Starlight and Pacific Surfliner, Metrolink's Ventura County Line between Los Angeles and Montalvo, and the Caltrain corridor between Gilroy and San Francisco. Dreamstar's service follows a similar route as Southern Pacific's Lark, which ran from 1910 to 1968, as well as Amtrak's short-lived early 1980s Spirit of California.