Days after announcing that its high-speed electric rail service connecting Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach with Orlando will debut in September, Brightline has made public its next intercity project: Las Vegas and Los Angeles will be connected via fast electric rail in time for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Known as Brightline West, the 220-mile service will have three stations: Las Vegas (see image at bottom); the Los Angeles suburb of Rancho Cucamonga; and Victorville, Calif., which is about halfway between the two other stations. While Rancho Cucamonga is 40 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, its station also serves the MetroLink commuter rail that goes into the city. Ontario International Airport, served by all major U.S. airlines, is three miles from the station.
The Brightline West rail line is expected to cost $12 billion to construct. But with at least 70 percent of that sum coming from private investment, Brightline says that the project most likely will be able to break ground by early 2024 and finish by mid-2028. As for the rest of the necessary funding, the company applied in April for a $3.75-billion loan from the U.S. government, while a group of legislators from California and Nevada wrote a letter to the U.S. Transportation Department supporting the project.
Besides being more sustainable than the five-hour drive or the one-hour flight, the rail trip between Las Vegas and Los Angeles will provide business events held in either city with a new way to lure attendees from the other city: quick and easy transport. Further, pre- and post-event itineraries for events based in either city could include an excursion to the other city.
For instance, “think about the idea of the Los Angeles Olympics having venues shared and hotel rooms shared between the Los Angeles metropolitan area and the Las Vegas metropolitan area,” said Mike Reininger, CEO of Brightline. “Imagine watching a game at Allegiant Stadium in Vegas and getting on a train and going and watching another event in Southern California in the same day. It will be a remarkable showcase.”
