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 think thatâs the goal. My head canon is that somewhere in the committee an engineer familiar with the PNW finally said âYou know if you try to go over the southern passes the line will be down for 2 months out of the year because of storms.â Then they showed their tunnel math and plans suddenly changed.
