Las Vegas was born a rail stop, but intercity train service died in Southern Nevada when Amtrak's woebegone "Desert Wind" line to Los Angeles blew outta here for the last time nine years ago.

Since then, we've survived the frustrating bumper-to-bumper slogs across Interstate 15 and the knee-crunching indignities of modern air travel whenever we get an itch for Tinseltown. Not fun, but it's worked.

Still, dreamers think we'd rather hop a train, if we could. A trio of competing proposals want to reconnect SoCal to Sin City with various forms of newfangled choo-choos.

There's the "maglev," or magnetic levitation train, that would ride a magnetic cushion above a track at up to 300 mph to Anaheim by 2015, if taxpayers and private investors pony up $10 billion.

DesertXpress seeks $3 billion in private backing for a 125 mph train to Victorville -- two-thirds of the way to Hollywood -- to arrive as early as 2012.

Last week, the Regional Transportation Commission unveiled a study claiming Amtrak or somebody else could feasibly start an 80 to 90 mph train to L.A. by 2010 for as little as $1.1 billion -- if a billion bucks is ever a "little" -- in track upgrades.

"I think it's a good way to travel, especially if you've gone with the flow to and from Southern California" by car, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who also sits on the RTC board, said last week.

Considering the steep costs, competition for the same basic right of way along I-15, and limited funding sources, it's unlikely more than one plan will make it, if any do.

But do we need even one train? Planners say yes.

They're betting that growing I-15 congestion, skyrocketing gasoline prices, dwindling space at McCarran International Airport and a lack of road funding will make a train sound better than at the time of the Desert Wind, which was unreliable and slow: one way to L.A. took seven-plus hours.

"A lot of people have experienced gridlock situations and accidents that have created major congestion problems," said Tom Stone, president of DesertXpress. "We believe the time is really right."

Which plan is best depends on whom you trust. Neil Cummings, president of the American Maglev Group, swears DesertXpress is too slow to make a go of it.

"You're talking about a 125 mph system versus a 300 mph (maglev) system. In that sense, it's not competition," Cummings said. "If you put both systems side by side, people will ride the maglev."

Stone counters that maglev's a traveler's dream and an accountant's nightmare. "We've been supporting the idea of a maglev project for many years. Now, it's clear to us it won't happen," he said. "It's not economically feasible."

Stone believes it'll be no big whoop for traffic-jaded Angelinos to make the hour-plus drive between L.A. and Victorville to catch his train. The RTC scoffs at that.

"It was less likely that potential passengers for the proposed service would drive through the Los Angeles metropolitan area and up the Cajon Pass (often the most congested portion of the journey) before starting their rail trip," an RTC analysis of that route option said.

And I'm not sure how many Southern Nevadans are clamoring to get sorta close to L.A. when you can jump on one of dozens of cheap daily flights straight to La-La Land.

On Wednesday, with three weeks' advance booking, Southwest Airlines' Web site offered round trips to LAX for $118.60 to $238.60 for flights of under one hour each way. This compares with 86 minutes each way on maglev (to Anaheim!), or, under the RTC plan, as much as six hours one way to L.A. -- about the same as driving on I-15 on a bad day with a stop in Barstow, and just one hour less than the old Desert Wind. As for DesertXpress, after the hour from Los Angeles to Victorville, it's maybe another two hours by train from Victorville to Vegas.

Airfare also compared favorably to tentative round-trip fares proposed for DesertXpress (around $110), maglev ($84) and RTC (between $110 and $220).

(A quick aside: I can't find my abacus and I'm a dunce at math, but how does the $10 billion train plan offer cheaper fares than the $1 billion train plan, but everybody claims the economics even out?)

And Southwest isn't asking for $10 billion, or 1 billion bucks, or anything. It's there already. Jets and everything. That doesn't discourage Stone, who says he wants to empty freeways, not terminals.

"Our primary target market is the person who drives. It's not the airlines," Stone said. "People who want to fly will fly."

Either way, folks are jazzed, backers say. "We haven't found anybody who thinks it's a bad idea," Stone said.

Sure, it sounds great. But getting a thumbs-up isn't the same as getting that thumb and a few fingers to write checks with a lot of zeros.

And while rail backers claim their plans are feasible, Las Vegans have learned that projections aren't perfect.

The $650 million Las Vegas Monorail, for which Stone was a consultant, has ridership roughly half what was first forecast, at fares almost twice the original rate. And it's losing money.

Will maglev or DesertXpress be any different? Will either even be born? Those are the billion-dollar questions. Literally.

If you have a question, tip or tirade, call the Road Warrior at 387-2904, or e-mail him at roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com or OSofradzija@reviewjournal.com. Please include your phone number.