New high-speed train, from Las Vegas to California

WASHINGTON.— The Brightline West rail project, scheduled to launch in 2028, will transport passengers at nearly 300 kilometers per hour, faster than any train in the United States.

Privately owned rail company Brightline will break ground tomorrow on a $12 billion high-speed project connecting Las Vegas and Southern California.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will join company leaders and other officials for the start of work in Las Vegas this Monday, the Department of Transportation confirmed to The Washington Post.

The ceremony was first reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Brightline West will receive $3 billion in federal funds from US President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Act.

The trains would be in operation in early 2028, in time for the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

a lot to wait

According to “The Washington Post,” travelers have a lot to look forward to.

The electric trains will depart every 45 minutes from a Las Vegas station south of the city’s historic The Strip and a Southern California station in Rancho Cucamonga, a Los Angeles suburb about 40 miles east of downtown.

Traveling at up to 180 mph, faster than any other train in the United States, Brightline West trains will make the 220-mile trip in approximately two hours and 10 minutes.

“We are finally building the first high-speed rail project in our nation’s history,” President Biden said of Brightline West last December. “We have been talking about this project for decades. “Now we’re really getting there.”

Other high-speed railroads that would carry passengers at 200 mph or faster are in the works in California, Texas and the Pacific Northwest.

Driving between Rancho Cucamonga and Las Vegas takes at least three hours without traffic, according to Google Maps.

“You’ll be sitting there, flying Brightline, looking at all those brake lights on the road and thinking, ‘It sucks to be you,’” Jim Mathews, executive director of the Rail Passengers Association, said the day before yesterday. “This is how it will be for all those people trying to get from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.”

Intermediate stops

Brightline West trains will run on Interstate 15 for most of their trip. They will make two intermediate stops in California: one in Hesperia and another in Apple Valley.

Passengers leaving Los Angeles will have the option to ride Metrolink, Southern California’s regional rail system, to the Rancho Cucamonga station near the interchange of Interstates 10 and 15.

The trip between downtown Los Angeles and Rancho Cucamonga takes at least 50 minutes by car, without traffic, or 1 hour and 15 minutes by train.

Miami-Orlando

Brightline’s Florida operation connecting Miami to Orlando opened in September, giving future customers in the west a taste of what to expect.

Before Brightline’s debut, Amtrak held a monopoly on intercity passenger train travel for decades.

The stations are spacious with comfortable seating areas, bars selling craft cocktails, and a lounge for premium passengers. On board, travelers enjoy assigned seating and fast WiFi.

Attendants line the aisle serving snacks and drinks throughout the trip.— The Washington Post

Brightline told investors it carried a record 258,307 passengers in March and that one in three of its trains was almost full.

Brightline’s high ridership, although slower than investors were initially promised, makes a strong argument for building fast, frequent trains between major U.S. cities such as Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Brightline West estimates that 6 million people will ride its trains during the first full year of operation, according to a federal environmental assessment.

That number is expected to rise to 9.2 million people within a decade.

The company estimates that without the train, three-quarters of its passengers would travel between Southern California and Las Vegas.

Another 15 percent would fly and the rest would not make the trip at all.

Take a look

Record

Brightline told investors that it carried a record 258,307 passengers in March and that one in three of its trains was almost full.

First year

Brightline West estimates 6 million people will ride its trains during the first full year of operation, according to a federal environmental assessment.

One of each

That number is expected to rise to 9.2 million people within a decade.