In Las Vegas today, construction began on a train that would get travelers from Rancho Cucamonga in San Bernardino County to the Vegas Strip in a little more than two hours.
A company called Brightline West is building the train, which is expected to travel nearly 200 miles per hour, says LA Times staff writer Noah Bierman. Once completed, it will be the first true high-speed train in the United States.
The privately-owned company previously constructed a higher-speed train between Miami and Orlando in Florida, much like Amtrak’s Acela, which connects cities across the eastern seaboard.
A one-way ticket is expected to eventually cost $200 for the Rancho Cucamonga-Las Vegas train, which might be more expensive than flying or driving, Bierman points out. “They consider their main competition the car. They estimate about 50 million trips a year between LA and Southern California every year. With 85% of those by car, they want to capture 11 million of them.”
The project costs $12 billion — covered by tax dollars, federal bonds, and some state funds.
Will the train be completed in time for the LA Olympics? There’s no guarantee, suggests Bierman. Still, he adds, “There's a lot of hope, even from people who aren't involved in the project who have been watching this. … They believe this is going to be the first one to go in the country, this will be the model project.”