Sin City last stop

TRAVELLING from the middle of nowhere to the centre of gambling haven Las Vegas on a 150mph train could be a sure bet in the near future. It’s been reported that privately held DesertXpress is on the egde of landing a staggering $4.9 billion loan from the Obama adminstration.

Not everyone is so welcoming of the latest high speed plan. “It’s insanity,” says Thomas Finkbiner of the Intermodal Transportation Institute at the University of Denver. “People won’t drive to a train to go someplace. If you are going to drive, why not drive all the way and leave when you want?”

Planners imagine that millions of travelers a year will one day flock to a station outside down-on-its-luck Victorville, a small city where shuttered storefronts pock the historic downtown. It’s also been reported that the project could create around 80,000 new jobs.

The project depicts a park-and-ride option for car loving Californians. The idea is that avid gamblers will drive about 100 miles from the Los Angeles area, pull off busy Interstate 15 and board a train for the final leg to the Vegas strip.

Planners imagine that millions of travelers a year will one day flock to a station outside Victorville, a small city where shuttered storefronts line the historic downtown.

An alliance of business and political big shots from the Vegas strip to Capitol Hill was backing the project that could become the first high-speed system to break ground under President Obama’s push to modernize the U.S. rail network – and give the President’s re-election prospects a lift in battleground Nevada.