tentially lucrative L.A.-Vegas rail biz. Enter Mike Barron, CEO of the Las Vegas Railway Express. His idea is — You want to go to Ve- gas? You’re going for fun, right? So why not start the fun on the train? Make the trip it- self one big party! Barron’s party train will formally be
known as the X Train. That stand-alone “X” will be the only similarity between the Las Vegas Railway Express and the above refer- enced DesertXpress. The X Train eschews the high-speed mania that has figured in most new 21st Century passenger rail pro- posals. At 65 m.p.h. (What’s the rush? It’s party time!), according to Barron, “Our pas- senger steps into a Vegas environment the minute he gets on the train, sits back, has a beverage from one of our Vegas-style servers, and mixes with other passengers on the 5¹⁄₂ hour, 330-mile trip.” While motorists on the same route are entertained by staring at the license plate of the car in front of them, pas- sengers on the X Train get to party! The trains will be outfitted with first class accommodations (food and beverage service included), concierge reservation services (pre- and post-boarding) at discounted rates from hotels, restaurants and shows. There will be entertainment on board. Everything about Vegas will be there. Well, nearly everything, but no gambling. Barron in- cludes transfers from the train to hotels and casinos, and the deal with the hotels is that gaming is their prerogative, thank you. Both ends of the line will have spiffy facili-
ties. A “hot new station” in Vegas. And at the southern California end, the X Train will orig- inate from the Fullerton Transportation Cen- ter, located in the middle of some 11 million
Southern California residents and conve- niently interchanged with the 55-station Metrolink commuter rail network. The opera- tion is subject to the approval of Union Pacif- ic, with which Barron has been negotiating. Amtrak will supply the operating crew — con- ductors and locomotive engineers, and such. As for the go-ahead the STB has accorded the DesertXpress? Barron tells R&R: “The DesertXpress could technically be considered a competing plan, but not when you look a little deeper into the construction enterprise The DesertXpress is a $7 billion new construction enterprise which will cre- ate an HSR commuter solution between Las Vegas and Victorville, Calif.” (And here, Barron goes into the convenience factor). Victorville, he notes, “lies some 90 miles to the north of L.A. They are promoting a 90- minute ride between those two portals. They plan to connect to the California HSR plan when built.” (That’s a big if. See above). Furthermore, he adds, connecting with
the envisioned California HSR will be brought about through “a 58-mile segment that [DesertXpress] will build in the future. The development plan for the Desert Xpress is currently focused on a 190-mile track . . . that is “a commuter line and does not con- nect all the way to Los Angeles [as the X Train does]. The X Train’s cost is estimated at $50 mil-
lion, with no new construction since it will run on freight railroad tracks, having trip experiences which Barron likens to the con- trast between an airline flight and a cruise, which is more fun. Wes Vernon is a Washington-based writer and veteran broadcast journalist.
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