Here’s a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the library’s blog. Don’t forget you can also follow the Metro Library on Facebook and Twitter.

It’s not as fast, but this train could hit the rails sooner (Las Vegas Sun)

I’m actually headed to Sin City this weekend (in my girlfriend’s car) so this story caught my eye. You may have heard of plans for potential high speed rail lines serving Las Vegas – two companies are fighting to be the first to provide the service – but there’s another plan to provide traditional rail to Las Vegas, and while it would be slower, passengers could be riding it much sooner. The rail line, called Las Vegas Railway Express, could be up and running by mid-2011 and it would run from Union Station to Las Vegas in about 5 1/2 hours. What’s more, Railway Express officials promise lots of fun, Vegas-style entertainment on the train to occupy that time. With traffic it can take up to six hours to drive to Vegas, so this trains sounds like a fine alternative to me. Just wish it was running this weekend.

Bike Corrals Motion moves forward to City Council (LADOT Bike Blog)

The Council Transportation Committee has decided that a motion to allow a bike corral to be installed in Northeast LA can go ahead to City Council. LADOT Bikeways supports the project but with a few caveats – they’d like the corral to be moved from York Blvd. to a side street because it would be in the way of planned bike lane and there would also have to be coordination with the Bureau of Street Services about how the corral would impact street sweeping.

Mayor Breaks Ground on Westlake/MacArthur Park Development…But Is It TOD? (Streetsblog LA)

Damien Newton over at Streetsblog LA takes a look at the MacArthur Park Metro Apartments development that recently broke ground near the Westlake/MacArthur Park Red/Purple Line station. The development has been dubbed a Transit Oriented Development (TOD) by Metro but Streetsblog asks whether it will befall the same fate as the W Hotel development at Hollywood/Vine which the blog dubbed a Transit Adjacent Development (TAD). Streetsblog worries that the apparent lack of bicycle facilities will prevent the MacArthur Park Metro Apartments from being a true TOD.

LA to start studying north-south transit connections in the San Fernando Valley (Be A Green Commuter)

The L.A. City Council has approved a motion to study north-south transit options for the Valley. Options in the study include extending the Red Line from North Hollywood to the Sylmar Metrolink Station and Bus Rapid Transit down Van Nuys Boulevard. They can study it all they want, but neither project is specifically mentioned in the long-range plan adopted by the Metro Board of Directors in October after more than a year of debate.