Talk of a high-speed train from Las Vegas to Southern California has been nothing but hot air for nearly a decade. Now, however, it looks like Lady Luck may cast her fickle favor on commuters.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is backing a $45 million project that would build a maglev (magnetic levitation) train to connect the bright lights of Las Vegas to sunny SoCal (Anaheim, specifically). Funding for such transportation projects was approved in 2005, but has yet to be allocated. Meanwhile, traffic in southern Nevada—and, notoriously, in Southern California—has only worsened.

Naysayers, like Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, dismissed the train as a mere starry-eyed, speculative venture. President Bush, whose track record shows he hasn’t historically supported public transit or pedestrian-oriented projects, stationed himself in DeMint’s camp.

Reid was displeased by DeMint’s support of a privately-owned, regular train service that would run from Las Vegas to Antelope Valley, a desert 85 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles. The high speed train would travel at approx. 300 mph, and would take passengers from L.A. to Las Vegas in less than an hour.

Source: Las Vegas Sun.

Photos via flickr by StevenM_61 and Bashed.

Comments (3)

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MarkR said:

Is there really anything good that can be said about L.V.? It was built by the mob, unapologetically billed as sin city and they don’t have a problem with being called the modern day sodam and gamoraha. Its now run by big business which is a legal version of the mob. Every married man and woman is tempted to cheat on their spouse with the whole, “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” I’m sure almost every spouse cringes with fear when their spouse says they have to go to Vegas on “business.” Almost every single person is asked to their face with a “push card” to invite a hooker into their life for as short as 30 min hook up. It wastes electricity and water like there is no limit to either. The moral fabric of a person sole is constantly tempted. Been there twice, no plan to ever go back. I specifically avoid the place because of the cesspool of moral decay that it is. And I wish and pray that more people would wise up, and stop forcing conventions on us there. Sure there is a mono rail, and serves a great use getting people to conventions. But given the fact there is no redeeming value in the city, totally negates any “Green” window dressing they can come up with. High speed rail to this cesspool wouldn't do as much good as abandoning the place and tearing it down. Now that some materials that need to be recycled for a better use.

April 24, 2008

Alek F said:

I think the Rail line should connect Las Vegas with Los Angeles, not necessarily Anaheim. Studies have shown (along with common sense! ) that most Southern California travelers to Las Vegas are from Los Angeles, not Anaheim. So, why was Los Angeles omitted during the route studies - is beyond my comprehension! Let's provide all possible efforts to build a DIRECT Rail line between Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

April 25, 2008

Nick Aster said:

...a dump, I won't disagree with that. It's also nowhere near as "sinful" as it claims to be, it's really a cartoon of sinful. New York is far more sinful if you want to go in that direction. Anyway, among the zillions of things that bug me about vegas is that transportation is useless there. The strip is a 24/7 traffic jam and it's impossible to get into any hotel without driving in circles for miles. Even the monorail is so far behind the hotels, it's basically useless to bother walking to the station. The best thing that could happen is that they connect the monorail to the airport - catching a cab there can sometimes take 30 minutes. My primary reasoning? It would be a phenomenal way to introduce average people to the concept of effective public transit. Millions would ride it every year and return to their home towns asking "Why don't we have a rail system to our airport?"

May 01, 2008 | url

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