Work is set to begin Monday on a $12 billion high-speed passenger rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area, with officials projecting millions of ticket-buyers will be boarding trains by 2028.
Brightline West, whose sister company already operates a fast train between Miami and Orlando in Florida, aims to lay 218 miles (351 kilometers) of new track between a terminal to be built just south of the Las Vegas Strip and another new facility in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Almost the full distance is to be built in the median of Interstate 15, with a station stop in San Bernardino Countyâs Victorville area.
In a statement, Brightline Holdings founder and Chairperson Wes Edens called the moment âthe foundation for a new industry.â
Brightline aims to link other U.S. cities that are too near to each other for flying between them to make sense and too far for people to drive the distance, Edens said.
This specific line was first proposed in the Clinton or maybe even Bush Sr administration. It changed concept so many times I really never though a single rail would ever get put down.
At one point there was even talk of connecting it to the monorail that runs down 30% of the strip. I think thatâs when I lost hope.
Do you remember the highspeed rail from LA to SF we paid billions and billions towards? I remember voting against it saying, âif this is up and running in less than a decade Iâd be shocked.â 20 years later it isnât up and running.
Add in Elonâs bullshit Boring Company purposeful distractions to kill this project and the abuse of any environmental impact studies and you see why these projects never seem to get off the ground.
At least this project seems to have the approvals done, and theyâll probably move quicker being a company vs. government built.
I like how they announced the San Diego to Seattle line again, for the 4th (I think) time in 20ish years, only this time itâs missing half of Oregon. So if you want to go the whole way itâll be high speed rail from San Diego to Medford, Oregon, then ÂŻ\(ă)/ÂŻ, then Portland (or possibly Eugene) to Seattle on high speed rail again.
Thereâs a lack of stops in Oregon in that gap? Or thereâs an actual gap in the rail line?
Well Lyle Lanley was in charge of the project at the time they were going to connect it to the Monorail.
