LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Brightline has purchased 110 acres at the south end of the Las Vegas strip for the terminal for its planned high speed rail line to Southern California, the company has announced.
“Today’s announcement represents another important milestone for the project and is tangible evidence of our commitment and progress,” Brightline Holdings CEO Michael Reininger said in a press release. “The location and quality of the site matches our aspirations for what will be the showcase for new high-speed rail in the country.”
The company is currently developing plans for a 65,000-square foot station on the site, which will also include parking and connections to existing and planned ground transportation systems.
The planned Brighline West project will build a high speed rail line from Las Vegas to Victorville, Calif., with additional plans for a station in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., allowing connection to Los Angeles via the Metrolink commuter rail system. Construction was originally planned to begin in late 2020, but the funding process preceding the start of that work has now been delayed until 2022 [see “Brightline West bond effort pushed back …,” Trains News Wire, June 23, 2021].
I see this as an incremental step. There is no reason Brightline couldn’t get rights on Metrolink to LAUPT.
I’ll take “Thing That Will Never Happen” for $1000, Alex.
I think much of the skepticism about Victorville-Vegas is justified, but getting stuck in traffic on 15 between those two points (which does happen at peak periods, especially when there’s an accident) is for many people even more frustrating than crawling along the 10 or the 91 in the LA basin. It won’t be for everybody, but I have no doubt my SoCal relatives will jump at the chance to get off the freeway in Victorville and hit the lounge car on Brightline.
I hope to be found rong, but I still question how Brightline expects to drwa millions of riders out of their cars at Victorville after they’ve already driven 75-150 miles from their homes towards Las Vegas and are essentially half way there. I know they plan a Metrolink connection, but that means home-commuter line (multi-stop commuter train ride to Rancho Cucamonga and then finally Brightline. It’s too complex. Americans will just stay in their cars. They need to go directly to LAUPUT or this will fail.
I totally agree. Amtrak might be able to make one or two trains a day between LA and Las Vegas work. But Brightline appears to be proposing better than hourly service all day. Just doesn’t make sense from a departure point basically in the middle of the desert.
I drove Vegas to Fullerton yesterday, leaving Vegas around noon. There was a road closure just south of Vegas that we were lucky enough to get around. After that it was SOLID traffic all the way. We made decent time, but given an option I would totally give that up for a relaxing ride that would make much better time. Plus rail is one of the few ways to make a dent in adding capacity between the two areas without using aircraft. Adding lanes would cost much more considering the terrain.
The two issues will be price and parking. Make those work and Brightline will be packed!!