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 County’s Victorville area.
In a statement, Brightline Holdings founder and Chairperson Wes Edens called the moment “the foundation for a new industry.”
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.
The TGV in France reportedly costs 25 million per kilometre, which I thought sounded ridiculously expensive
This is costing 36 million per kilometre!
Wonder who’s pocketing the extra?
This is really good. Americans need an easy High Speed Rail victory and the experience that comes with building the first few HSR projects in the US. Fingers crossed for a planned, federally funded, and organized Cascadia HSR that links up Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver, BC.
Obligatory City Nerd video analyzing the utility of the rail line
Hell yeah, high speed rail anywhere in this nation is worth celebrating. Hopefully this drives some other areas of the nation to look into building links like this between cities. I’ve long dreamt of a KC-STL-CHI link that could be further benefited by having links throughout the Great Lakes with Chicago serving as a hub to connect the likes of Detroit and the Twin Cities to the heartland with high speed rail
When we got married we had our wedding in Vegas because it was the cheapest place for everyone to fly to. I assume casinos somehow help subsidize airfare. If they subsidize rail to increase profits and Vegas becomes the western hub of high speed rail, I’m ok with that.
I’d love to see them do Vegas to Flagstaff to Phoenix to Tucson next. I’d probably take a lot more weekend trips to Vegas if it was fast (200mph+) and cheap and keeps me away from TSA.
Yea it’ll be about price for me too. I don’t even like gambling but I like the weirdness of Vegas. If it can get me to the heart of Vegas at a reasonable price I would go more often, public transit will also play a part though. Not sure how good it is but it’ll need to be better
