SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, CA. (Pain In The Pass) >> Brightline West’s high-speed rail project from Southern California to Las Vegas has scored $3 billion in federal funding.
The funds will help pay for the $12 billion project, which includes main stations in Rancho Cucamonga, Victorville/Apple Valley, and Las Vegas, as well as a passenger stop in Hesperia.
President Joe Biden officially announce the grant award on Friday in Las Vegas, as he talked about 10 major rail projects around the country. The grant will come from the Biden Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as part of its Federal-State Partnership Program part of the U.S. infrastructure bill.
Tax-exempt private activity bond allocations from both states and private capital would pay the remaining cost of the project.
Brightline West, which aims to be fully operational before 2028, has already secured much of the permitting and project-labor agreements.
In a statement about the new funding, Brightline CEO Wes Edens thanked Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and called the funding announcement a “historic moment that will serve as a foundation for a new industry.”
Rosen and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, both Democrats, led a bipartisan group including all of Nevada’s elected federal lawmakers and four House members from California that in April urged Biden to commit up to $3.75 billion in federal infrastructure funds toward what they call a public-private partnership.
“We’re ready to get to work,” Wes Edens, founder and chairman of Florida-based Brightline, said in a statement ahead of a Friday event in Las Vegas that may coincide with a visit by President Joe Biden.
The funding comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which authorized spending more than $4.5 billion for intercity passenger rail funding for lines outside the rail-rich Northeast Corridor.
Rosen, who led congressional efforts to fund the high-speed line through letters and press conferences, called the announcement a “game changer” for the state’s tourism economy.
New Brightline advertisements have been seen in Las Vegas, which includes fencing along its proposed Las Vegas station, located on Las Vegas Boulevard between Warm Springs and Blue Diamond Road.
Brightline West’s 218-mile system will mostly run within the Interstate 15 right-of-way, with trains capable of 200 miles per hour.
The Rancho Cucamonga station will connect to Metrolink’s regional rail network, which includes stations in Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange, San Diego, and Ventura counties.
No date was announced for work to start. But Rosen said electric-powered trains could carry passengers when Los Angeles hosts the Summer Olympics in 2028.
The trains could cut in half a four-hour freeway trip from a station in Las Vegas through Victorville, California, to a suburban Los Angeles light rail line in the San Bernardino County city of Rancho Cucamonga.
They say the service could help alleviate weekend or end-of-holiday travel traffic jams that often stretch for over 10+ miles on Interstate 15 near the Nevada-California line.
The Pain In The Pass website will bring you further project news and construction updates as the project progresses.
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