Making History: America’s First High-Speed Rail Connecting Las Vegas To Southern California Breaks Ground

Privately owned train company Brightline broke ground last week on a new high-speed rail system that will connect Las Vegas and Southern California.

A watershed moment for America, the Brightline West system has been touted as the “first true high-speed rail system” in the US.

Covering a span of 218 miles, this all-electric service will reach a top speed of around 200 miles per hour, comparable to other high-speed systems around the world.

The route, which has full environmental clearance, will traverse the median of the I-15 highway, completely avoiding grade crossings. It will include a flagship station in Las Vegas, with additional stations in Apple Valley, Hesperia, and Rancho Cucamonga in California.

Based on the company's vision to connect city pairs that are too short to fly and too far to drive, Brightline West will transport passengers from Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga in about two hours, twice as fast as the normal drive time.

Trains could be operational as early as early 2028, in time for the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

In December 2023, the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT), in partnership with Brightline West, secured a $3 billion grant from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for the $12 billion high-speed rail system.

The rest of the project will be privately funded and has received a total allocation of $3.5 billion in private activity bonds from the US Department of Transportation (USDOT).

“This is a historic project and a proud moment where we break ground on America’s first high-speed rail system and lay the foundation for a new industry,” said Wes Edens, Brightline founder. “Today is long overdue, but the blueprint we’ve created with Brightline will allow us to repeat this model in other city pairs around the country.”

The privately led infrastructure project, one of the largest in the nation, is poised to create over $10 billion in economic impact for Nevada and California, while also generating more than 35,000 jobs.