No, it’s not a hoax. However, the X Train project is contingent on lining up financing and on obtaining priority access to the Los Angeles-to-Las Vegas route. At present, Union Pacific freight trains have the right of way and X Train backers would probably have to pay dearly to go to the head of the queue.
One manner in which the X Train intended to pay for itself was on-board gambling. When federal authorities objected, it was announced that the casino-on-rails would only be in play for the Primm-to-Vegas leg of the trip (a fairly short one). Then the idea was dropped altogether. Still in place is a plan for the X Train to run on a five-day schedule, Thursdays through Mondays.
Last August, Top Chef favorite Rick Moonen and two Vegas-based associates formed Trifecta Hospitality Concepts, which will cater to X-Train passengers. Aboard his dining car, which will be dubbed "Chew Chew," Moonen promises affordable beer along with "a sit-down sushi bar car. We want the food to be so good that people get on early. We might do something like a dim sum cart of some sort because it's immediate. It won't necessarily be fine dining. I don't think we'll open up with something that fancy."
Partnering with the X-Train will also give Moonen a vehicle (quite literally) for transporting food from the markets of L.A. to his restaurants on the Strip. He also hopes it will enable him to plant a foot in the Los Angeles restaurant scene, preferably with a Moonen eatery in Union Station.
HispanicBusiness.com reported earlier this month that the Plaza Hotel, in downtown Las Vegas, is working on a deal to have the X Train deposit its passengers at the Plaza, an aging hotel that could use a boost of that sort. The site also stated that the rail service "could begin this year" but, according to the most recent announcement on the X Train Twitter feed @TheXTrain), the locomotives won’t start rolling until 2012.
