Brightline West, an affiliate of Brightline, the country’s only privately owned passenger railroad, is planning a 170-mile high-speed rail line, which would connect Las Vegas to the Apple Valley community in San Bernardino County. Set to travel at a maximum speed of 200 miles per hour, trains on Brightline West are expected to make the trip in half the time compared to driving. Trains would depart every 45 minutes with each offering a capacity between 600 and 1,200 passengers.
While Brightline West originally expected to begin construction by the end of 2020, the project faced significant setbacks due to the pandemic. One such being a lack of interest in private equity bonds allocated for the project by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the states of Nevada and California to pay for the construction. A letter by Brightline to the Nevada High-Speed Rail Authority obtained by USA Today attributes election uncertainty, the lack of approval of a COVID-19 vaccine, and a lack of liquidity in the market for the setback. Subsequently, Fortress Investment Group, Brightline’s parent company, halted the $8 billion project last year when it couldn’t complete financing.
Now, according to an announcement by Brightline West President, Sarah Watterson, the company is preparing a revised financial plan that could see the project break ground in the second quarter of 2021 due to improved market conditions. However, a definitive date has yet to be released.
This news also arrives after President Joe Biden’s proposed $2 trillion American Jobs Plan, which would provide $80 billion to Amtrak to cover its repairs, modernize existing rails, and create new connections between cities. Following this, Amtrak unveiled plans for an expanded national rail system, which includes two new passenger lines connecting Los Angeles with Phoenix and Las Vegas.
17 Comments
All abo-ard!
There's also a GA meeting in the club car.
I hope this is the key to a future of fidelity for Las Vegas. Cleaning up the city’s criminal past can unlock their future value, and, benefit this worthy connection to California.
Same report as three weeks ago and yet again, no date on baking ground. I’ll believe it when I see it.
The 200 mph Sinkansen began service in 1964 and runs the entire length of Japan. 57 years later the world's biggest banana republic announces a 200 mph train from some dinky town to Las Vegas.
U$A!
Don't ask about the California High-Speed Rail project then, Miles. It makes this thing look like Robert Moses pushing the Henry Hudson Bridge on a tight schedule.
Welcome to the 20th century!
I hope to someday live in a first world country.
You're going to have to move.
not sure what the point is given virtual sex and gambling in vr casinos
Well it's a railroad.
It's not going to happen. They never said how much each ticket and how much will the parking be. Also this is copy/pasted " Amtrak unveiled plans for an expanded national rail system, which includes two new passenger lines connecting Los Angeles with Phoenix and Las Vegas." Why building an Amtrak line a n d this. If the extension to/from Palmdale are included then great news for us Antelope Valley property owners. Unfortunately I believe nothing will be built because of SEA land areas and because there will be a Joshua tree or a Desert Turtle in its path. The year was 1974 when 3 fwys was to be built between The Antelope Valley and Victorville / Barstow, the 48, 122, and the 138. The year was 2019 when all 3 was cancelled. Why: Joshua Trees.
I'd rather have the trees.
It's not supposed to make money or even be completed. The payoff is in the banking fees associated with the financing and the kickbacks and payoffs from the construction phases. Think of the half-built and then abandoned shopping centers in New Jersey in the 70s and 80s. Union dues from unions run by mobsters were used to 'finance' the shopping centers and then were recycled into kickbacks to union officials.
Economics rule.
To those who think it won't get done, I have already taken the Brightline train in Florida and it is fantastic. Prepare to be proven extremely wrong.
Souse, winza train gettin here?
Hmmmm... Claudia Gold... Joe Pesci in a gold suit... coincidence?
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