All Aboard: Party on Your Way to Vegas in 2011 on the X Train

It doesn’t matter what vehicle you drive to Las Vegas from L.A. The trip can take up to eight hours with the steady stream of traffic on the I-15, especially on Fridays through Sundays, and when you add in construction delays over the summer, your drive can eat up valuable drinking, gambling and partying time.

No more driving to Vegas come next year. Instead, take the train.

Michael Barron, chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Railway Express Inc., is creating a party on rails called the X Train, with departures from Los Angeles’ Union Station to an undetermined station location in Las Vegas. The 300-mile jaunt will take about five-and-a-half  hours.

While you’re riding the train, which will sell tickets for an anticipated $99 per leg, expect to find gaming tables in case you just can’t wait to play the tables in Vegas. The train will offer a sports bar and food and beverage services, with food conceived by Rick Moonen of RM Seafood fame at Mandalay Bay. So expect some sustainable dishes from the James Beard Foundation award nominee. You can even buy show tickets, hotel rooms and incidentals while on board in case you forgot something.

Barron says the company is acquiring train sets and bi-level commuter passenger cars to revamp for the project, which could come to fruition next April. The X Train executive says that more than 12 million tourist make the drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas annually. The train plans to run Thursdays through Mondays.

For more information, visit www.xtrainvegas.com.