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Tag: Brightline West

  • Projected Cost of Vegas High-Speed Train Nearly DOUBLES! – Casino.org

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    Posted on: October 3, 2025, 05:52h. 

    Last updated on: October 3, 2025, 06:00h.

    The estimated cost of Brightline West’s high-speed rail line connecting Southern California to Las Vegas has surged to $21.5 billion, nearly doubling from its last publicly confirmed estimate of $12.4 billion in January 2025. The updated figure was disclosed in a US Department of Transportation (DOT) report released this week.

    Brightline West will travel 218 miles on the median of Interstate 15 at speeds of up to 200 mph, making the trip in about two hours. (Image: Brightline West)

    According to Bloomberg, the increase is primarily driven by rising labor and material costs. In response, Brightline West is seeking a $6 billion federal loan from the Trump administration to replace a previously planned $6 billion bank facility.

    The company also intends to raise additional equity to cover the remaining cost escalation.

    “We have had very productive conversations with USDOT and the Federal Railroad Administration over the last few months to continue to move Brightline West forward,” said Brightline CEO Mike Reininger, speaking to Bloomberg in September.

    Brightline West previously secured a $3 billion federal grant under the Biden administration, structured as a reimbursement contingent on meeting minimum spending thresholds.

    Will Trump Derail It?

    The future of federal funding for Brightline West has come under scrutiny amid broader cuts to high-speed rail initiatives.

    Earlier this year, the Trump administration canceled a $64 million planning grant for a proposed Dallas–Houston rail line. Then in August, it withdrew $4 billion in federal support for California’s Los Angeles–San Francisco high-speed rail project, whose cost has ballooned from $33 billion in 2008 to $128 billion.

    Brightline West appears to remain on track, however, likely due to its mostly private financing model.

    “We are excited to be the only high-speed rail project currently supported by the Trump administration,” Reininger told Bloomberg.

    Slow Train Coming

    Stations would be located along the route in Victor Valley, Hesperia and, eventually, the Southern Nevada Supplemental Airport, not shown on this map, which is scheduled to open near Jean, Nev. between 2035-37. (Image: Brightline)

    In September 2018, Brightline announced it had acquired the old XpressWest high-speed rail project, which had previously received approval to build a Vegas-to-LA high speed rail.

    Two years later, construction costs were projected to be $8 billion. That amount was updated to $10 billion in mid-2023. During a bond offering in January 2025, the cost was updated again to $12.4 billion.

    The last estimate, which was never officially announced, was $16 billion, according to the DOT.

    In April 2024, construction on the project began following a groundbreaking ceremony, though only field investigation work and utility installation have been completed so far.

    The Las Vegas terminus will be constructed by McCarthy Building Co. on Las Vegas Boulevard near Blue Diamond Road. Although that’s 2.5 miles south of the Las Vegas Strip, ride-hailing services, resort shuttles, and car rentals will be accessible at the station.

    The Southern California terminus will drop passengers in Rancho Cucamonga, where light rail connections can carry them the 37 additional miles southwest to downtown LA, which for most people will take about an hour.

    Brightline West has abandoned its initial hope of opening in time for the 2028 Summer Olympics in LA, admitting that service won’t be possible until at least December 2028.

    The Florida-based company previously promised to charge $119 for a one-way coach trip and $133 for VIP service. It has not said if that estimate will rise in step with the project’s construction cost.

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    Corey Levitan

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  • Construction on America’s First High-Speed Rail Has Begun

    Construction on America’s First High-Speed Rail Has Begun

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    Ground was broken today on what is said to be America’s first high-speed rail. The project, which is designed to connect Los Angeles and Las Vegas via a 218-mile stretch of track that will be built across the Mojave desert, will be completed within the next four years, its backers say.

    What Did Tatiana See at the End of 3 Body Problem?

    The proposed infrastructure project will stretch from the California city of Rancho Cucamonga to Vegas and is being headed by rail construction firm Brightline. In its description of the project, the company notes that the new route will be traveled by “all-electric, zero-emission trains” that will be capable of “reaching top speeds of 200 mph, getting passengers from Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga in about 2 hours and 10 minutes (2x faster than the normal drive time).” The project was helped along by $3 billion in federal funding supplied by the Biden administration, the Associated Press writes.

    In a press release from Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the government said the project would “remove an estimated 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year, bolster tourism, and create 35,000 good-paying jobs.”

    “As the first true high-speed rail system in America, Brightline West will serve as the blueprint for connecting cities with fast, eco-friendly passenger rail throughout the country,” Brightline’s Founder and Chairman Wes Edens, previously said. “Connecting Las Vegas and Southern California will provide wide-spread public benefits to both states, creating thousands of jobs and jumpstarting a new level of economic competitiveness for the region. We appreciate the confidence placed in us by DOT and are ready to get to work.”

    The AP also notes that Brightline already operates a railway system between Miami and Orlando in Florida. Gizmodo reached out to the company for details about its new project and will update this story if it responds.

    Many countries around the world have modernized their rail systems. Much of Europe is connected by a bevy of efficient and comfortable train systems, while Japan’s bullet trains have long been a source of pride for the country. China is said to have the fastest trains in the world and it has built up a highly effective high-speed rail network in a period of just twenty years. The U.S., meanwhile, has largely failed to develop any sort of modernized rail travel, despite decades of talk about the benefits that such systems could bring to Americans.

    One can only hope that this new effort won’t suffer the same fate as California’s long-suffering attempt to erect a high-speed rail service between Los Angeles and San Francisco. That project, which was originally approved by state voters in 2008, has—as of this year—completed less than a quarter of the proposed rail line and is currently missing billions of dollars in funding. In March, project leaders told California lawmakers that the full rail line that had originally been envisioned would need another $100 billion and years to complete.

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    Lucas Ropek

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