Feds Bet $3B On 2-Hour High-Speed Rail From SoCal To Vegas

The long-awaited high-speed train from Southern California to Las Vegas is one step closer to becoming a reality and could bring passengers to the Los Angeles area when the city hosts the Summer Olympics in 2028.

The project received $3 billion from President Joe Biden’s administration, authorities announced Tuesday. The total cost of the Brightline West project is $12 billion and the effort has acquired the necessary right-of-way and environmental approvals for work to start on the 218-mile rail line along Interstate 15, according to U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen.

“This historic high-speed rail project will be a game changer for Nevada’s tourism economy and transportation,” the Democrat senator from Nevada said in a news release. “For decades, Nevadans have heard about the benefits of high-speed rail, and I’m proud to have led the charge for months to push the U.S. Department of Transportation to secure critical funding to make this a reality.”

The rail line will boost tourism and decrease congestion along I-15, according to Rosen, who said the project would remove an estimated 3 million vehicles from the freeway each year, reduce over 400,000 tons of carbon emissions annually and create 35,000 union jobs.

“Bringing high-speed rail to Southern Nevada just makes sense, given the tens of millions of visitors we have each year,” U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat, said in a news release.

Planners say the nearly 200 mph train could cut in half the four-hour freeway trip from a station in Las Vegas through Victorville to a light rail line in the San Bernardino County city of Rancho Cucamonga.

They say the service could help alleviate weekend or end-of-holiday traffic jams that often stretch for 15 miles near the Nevada-California line.

Calls for a high-speed rail line whisking tourists through the Mojave Desert to Las Vegas date at least to 2001, said U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, a Democrat who represents the Las Vegas Strip.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.