High-speed electric rail project Brightline West, that will connect Las Vegas in Nevada to Los Angeles in California is officially in the works now with new federal funding. When complete, Brightline will operate along 351 km route connecting Sin City with Los Angeles and beyond at 300 kph.

America’s only private rail company Brightline has begun conducting field investigations in order to prepare for a rail corridor that would connect the state with Las Vegas, in southern California. 

The proposed high-speed passenger train project received another boost when Biden administration approved USD 2.5 billion in tax-exempt bonds for the USD 12 billion project.

According to press reports, the announcement benefiting the Brightline West project followed a USD 3 billion US Department of Transportation (DOT) grant in December and the government authorisation in 2020 for the company to sell USD 1 billion in similar bonds. The Brightline West project has now begun work along I-15. 

Brightline says that this 351 km trip will whisk passengers at speeds up to 300 kph from Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga in just 2 hours and 10 minutes, twice as fast as the normal drive time, with stops in Hesperia and Apple Valley. 

“We appreciate the confidence placed in us by DOT and are ready to get to work,” says Brightline founder and Chairman Wes Edens. Florida-based Brightline Holdings LLC currently operates the only privately-owned intercity passenger railroad in the US, linking Miami and Orlando with trains reaching speeds up to 200 kph.

Planners and politicians say the project has all the required right-of-way and environmental approvals, along with labour agreements and should help alleviate weekend and end-of-holiday travel traffic jams that often stretch for 25 km on I-15 near the Nevada-California line.

According to the statement, this initial field investigation work includes geotechnical borings and samplings, utility potholing, and land surveying. The work will take place mostly during the day with some nighttime hours “to minimise disruption to traffic.”

The work will take place along the following corridors of I-15 from Primm to Nipton Road, I-15 from Mountain Pass to Minneola Road and I-15 from Yermo to I-15/Hwy 58.

The DOT has committed USD 8.2 billion in funding for multiple important rail projects across the nation, including the high-speed rail project. In addition to the West Coast, the DOT is funding additional routes, such as one that will link Fort Collins and Pueblo, Colorado, with Dallas and Houston, and others.

Nevada Senator Jacky Rosen says she expects the long-sought rail link will boost Nevada’s tourism economy and create thousands of jobs while reducing traffic and pollution.

Although no date has been officially announced, officials say it might be operational by the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.