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.
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?
Maybe theyâre hoping, once the rest of it is built thereâll be enough interest/potential to get the expensive part financed?