Groundbreaking on a $12 billion high-speed passenger rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area is just about here.

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.

  • @sygniusEnglish
    3•7 months ago

    Yeah, that’s not really LA. Optimally, the train should go to Union Station. Seems to make the most sense to end there.

      • @[email protected]
        3•7 months ago

        Exactly. The cost from Rancho to the station is nearly the same as the rest of the line. It’s a huge last mile problem.

        Of course it should go into downtown LA, but it’ll take a long time to align, secure, and slowly build it without disturbing the city (Americans are wusses about construction). In the mean time, trains can be serving the East side of the city.

        • @[email protected]
          2•7 months ago

          I wouldnt say Americans are wusses about construction, its moreso that American cities are a lot like Roman bureaucracy and insane 4d ouroboros where if ya cut one area half the system grinds to a halt. Kinda like when ya dont plan out a city in City skylines and the highway expansion nukes half the economy.