VICTORVILLE, CA. (Pain In The Pass) >> The long-awaited high-speed train between Las Vegas and Victorville will be delayed due to COVID-19 and for bonds.
Brightline West team has made significant progress during the past year as California and Nevada dealt with the historic pandemic. We are working with a number of partners and have great support in Nevada and California. COVID-19 has impacted just about everyone, including our cooperating agencies, and as a result we’ve shifted our timeline for this request to 2022. Private activity bonds are a great way to enable private sector investments to modernize America’s passenger rail infrastructure at both the federal and state level. We expect they will play a meaningful role in the success of this project.
The bond funds will be used to start construction of the rail line from Las Vegas to Victorville and build a station in each city. Brightline previously sent a letter to the Nevada High-Speed Rail Authority outlining the difficulties in financing the $8 billion project during a pandemic.
Why would trains be very beneficial for California and the Las Vegas area? All due to the weekend traffic that could save you at least 2+ hours of traffic time. The trains would run every 45 minutes from 6am to midnight, carrying up to 500 people at speeds approaching 200 mph. The trip from Victorville to Las Vegas would take about 90 minutes. Victorville station will be built off of Interstate 15 and Dale Evans Parkway and the Las Vegas station would be near the strip.
Brightline also highlights new plans for an extension from Victorville to Rancho Cucamonga, (using the Cajon Pass rail). The second extension from Rancho to Los Angeles will also allow passengers to travel into downtown LA using the Metrolink rails. It plans for the extension to go online simultaneously with the Las Vegas-to-Victorville line in late 2024 or 2025.
A trip from downtown Los Angeles to Las Vegas on the Brightline West may take a bit under three hours and could cost about $80 per person. Brightline said.
There are many people who believe that a high-speed rail will never be built between Nevada and California. Brightline West says they are working hard on building it.
The Pain In The Pass website will bring you further project news and construction updates as the project progresses.
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