Brightline’s High Speed Rail Linking Las Vegas and San Francisco |

Published on: January 6, 2025, 09:05h.

Last updated on: January 6, 2025, 09:05h.

California revealed a proposal on Monday to connect the Brightline High-Speed Rail line, currently being constructed from Las Vegas to LA, to San Francisco through a new high-speed rail line planned in the Mojave Desert. However, this is contingent on the construction of a long-delayed bullet train from Los Angeles to San Francisco, which remains uncertain.

AI renders an image of a Brightline West high-speed rail train traveling from Las Vegas to San Francisco. (Image: Google Gemini)

California Governor Gavin Newsom initiated the construction of the first segment of the California High-Speed Rail project (CAHSR) by ceremonially driving a spike into the ground in Kern County on Monday. The CAHSR, funded by the California High-Speed Rail Authority, aims to reduce the travel time between LA and San Francisco from 6-7 hours to 3 hours.

Furthermore, California officials announced on Monday that the train, terminating at LA’s Union Station, will also stop in Palmdale to connect to another high-speed rail line called the High Desert Corridor. This corridor will transport CAHSR passengers 54 miles east to a stop on the privately financed Brightline West line.

The proposed California High-Speed Rail Line is illustrated as a dotted blue line. The proposed Brightline West line from Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga is shown as a solid green line. The proposed High Desert Corridor linking the two lines is indicated by a broken red line. (Image: highdesertcorridor.org)

This connection is beneficial not only for travelers from Vegas heading to San Francisco but also for those traveling to downtown LA. Transitioning from the Brightline at its High Desert Corridor station and then riding west to the CAHSR train could save up to an hour of travel time to Union Station, as commuting there from Rancho Cucamonga via light rail is expected to be time-consuming.

Train in Vain?

Despite Governor Newsom’s assurance of a functioning CAHSR by 2033, historical setbacks indicate a different outcome.

Resistance to the 463-mile CAHSR has delayed and jeopardized the project for decades, with opposition now intensifying as Republicans assume control of Congress on Jan. 3. In fact, Republican Representative Kevin Kiley introduced legislation on Monday to terminate federal funding for what he labeled a “failed” high-speed rail initiative.

Kiley stated in a press release endorsing the bill, “California’s high-speed rail project has faltered due to political incompetence, and there is no scenario where the costs to federal or state taxpayers are justified.”

The projected cost of the CAHSR, including the High Desert Corridor, is $128 billion, nearly four times the initial $33 billion estimate from its proposal in 2008.

However, as per The San Francisco Chronicle, the new strategy to interlink three rail lines “would enable Newsom to utilize the existing California infrastructure with investments made in previous projects.”

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