Published on: September 10, 2024, 05:18h.
Last edited on: September 10, 2024, 05:18h.
Brightline West recently unveiled images of the insides of its proposed high-speed rail trains that will run from Las Vegas to Southern California. These images were released alongside the announcement that the trains will be manufactured by Siemens Mobility, a company based in Germany, in Horseheads, a town of 20,000 residents near the Pennsylvania border.
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stated, “Siemens’ investment in Upstate New York will set the stage for the future of transportation in our country.”
Production is set to commence in 2026 after Siemens completes the construction of its manufacturing facility. Siemens was chosen by Brightline West in May after a competitive bidding process involving multiple global companies.
“The train sets to be manufactured in Upstate New York will benefit millions of commuters traveling between Las Vegas and Southern California, and I believe the local community will also profit from this,” stated Federal Rail Administration Administrator Amit Bose.
The American Pioneer 220 trains from Brightline West will reach speeds up to 186 mph along a 218-mile route from Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., following the Interstate 15 corridor. This will also serve as a form of advertising for the service to commuters facing frequent traffic on the busy freeway.
Stops along the route include Ivanpah, Apple Valley, and Hesperia before reaching Rancho Cucamonga, where passengers can transfer to light rail for a 37-mile journey to downtown LA.
Will It Stay on Schedule?
Brightline aims to have the trains operational in time for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited Las Vegas in April to ceremoniously launch the project and assure that the timeline remains accurate.
However, an engineering professor and high-speed rail expert at UNLV expressed concerns about potential construction challenges in an interview with Casino.org back in March.
Funding Still Needs to Be Completed
Approximately half of Brightline’s $12 billion budget is yet to be secured. The company has already received $6.5 billion from the Biden administration, including a $3 billion grant from federal infrastructure funds, approval to issue $2.5 billion in tax-exempt bonds, and authorization in 2020 to sell $1 billion in bonds of a similar nature.
Despite cutting the drive across the Mojave Desert in half, Brightline founder Wes Edens mentioned to the L.A. Times that the company plans to charge over $400 for a roundtrip ticket eventually.
Even factoring in the time for light rail, this is still more than double the duration of an average flight from LA to Las Vegas, with a roundtrip cost $75 more than flying.
Numerous high-speed rail projects in the US have failed due to the cheaper cost of driving and greater distances between population centers compared to Europe, where high-speed rail is common and profitable.
Nevertheless, Brightline West has progressed farther than any other similar project in terms of actually launching.