The route would fling passengers along at speeds topping 150 MPH, shortening the usual 4 hour car ride to a more manageable 80 minutes. What's more, the train service is being billed as more than just a ride out to the desert, it will reportedly be part of a "Las Vegas Experience." Amenities will include full-service entertainment club cars (though likely sans the gambling, at least until you cross into Nevada), business and first class seating, food, beverages and WiFi.

China, as a nation, operates more than 10,000 miles of domestic high-speed tracks and competes extensively with neighboring Japan -- specifically JR Central, the country's largest locomotive company -- for contracts throughout Asia. As the domestic Chinese market has become saturated with high-speed rail projects, many of its largest railway companies have begun vying for international contracts. As Yang Zhongmin, deputy chief engineer with China Railway Group, pointed out at a recent press conference, "This is the first high-speed railway project where China and the U.S. will have systematic cooperation. It shows the advancement of China-made high-speed railways." And given that multiple plans to link LA and LV with a rail line have been proposed over the years (with every single one of them failing due to budget or technological issues), China's expertise in such matters certainly can't hurt.