Brightline Trains West!

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This old and outdated link might help jog some people's memories. :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Vegas_Railway_Express
Yes, I remember this very well.

If my memory doesn't fail me, there were two competing proposals at the time, the X train and the Z train. One was more a casino on wheels or party train type thing that would have used extensively rebuilt Gallery cars on UP tracks, and in which speed was very much a secondary consideration, with the ride itself being the attraction. The other was more a transportation thing with higher speeds and thus requiring a bigger budget. Neither of the two proposals appeared to be particularly well thought through in its earlier incarnations. But then Desert XPress got its act together and finally Brightline did its part too.
 
There is a very good section on the history of development of Brightline West starting with DesertXpress through XpressWest to Brightline West in Wikipedia...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brightline_West

I had forgotten about the brief entanglement with the Chinese on the way to Brightline.
 
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