X Train begins engineering of proposed western alignment for L.A.-to-Vegas route

The Las Vegas Railway Express Inc. has begun engineering of the X Train route's new western alignment, the company announced Tuesday.

The company is developing a luxury passenger-rail service between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Its original plan was to traverse the Cajon Pass to Barstow and then north to Las Vegas. However, as capacity on that route became restricted, X Train reached out to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) and its rail engineering program to plan the logistics of an alternative route to Las Vegas, company officials said in a press release.

"We have spent the last year re-tooling our efforts to run the X Train service between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and based on the findings of UNLV's Rail Engineering Group, have concluded that the route from L.A. to Mojave to Barstow to Las Vegas would avoid the rail traffic of the Cajon Pass," said X Train Chief Executive Officer Michael Barron.

Company officials have reached out for local and statewide support, "and have found a number of our representatives who are energized about assisting in opening this third corridor of travel to Las Vegas," Barron added.