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.

  • catloaf@lemm.eeEnglish
    4·
    6 months ago

    Yeah, it would be great for it to go into LA itself. I hate it when transport hubs are on the edge of the city.

    I’m not familiar with LA, but it looks like there’s existing rail service to Rancho Cucamonga? Hopefully the terminal is also a station for one of those services so that changing is easy (though really I’d want them to just continue on that track right into LA).

    • ebits21@lemmy.caEnglish
      7·
      6 months ago

      Yeah I saw a YouTube video explaining that it connects with Metrolink regional rail at Rancho Cucamonga.

      Also I see this on their website:

      High-speed service could potentially one day be extended down the San Bernardino line into LA Union Station itself. Brightline West is also designed to accommodate connectivity to Palmdale via the separate “High-Desert Corridor” project, which would provide passengers a link to a separate Metrolink line as well as future California High-Speed Rail service. When California High-Speed Rail is complete, a one-seat ride from Las Vegas to San Francisco will be possible.