The Huffington Post is reporting that a company linked to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants to build a bullet train to the casinos of Las Vegas.
Privately held DesertXpress is "on the verge" of landing a $4.9 billion loan from the Obama administration to build the 150 mph train that would take guests from a small city about 100 miles from Los Angeles and board a train for the final stretch to Sin City.
If the project takes off, developers are hoping that millions of travelers a year will drive to a station outside Victorville, a small city where shuttered storefronts pock the historic downtown.
The project would be the first high-speed system to break ground under President Barack Obama's push to modernize the U.S. rail network. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has publicly blessed the train and it has cleared several regulatory hurdles in Washington.
