In 2024, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that the long-awaited Brightline West high-speed rail line running from Las Vegas to Los Angeles had reached the halfway point in acquiring its $12 billion in funding.
Now, state transportation officials have said that production on this high-speed train should begin within the next couple of months, and crews are hard at work preparing for the construction of the rail line.
The news that the high-speed train is almost ready to begin construction is excellent for several reasons. According to 8 News Now, in a release in 2024, the Department of Transportation shared, "The project will bolster tourism, create 35,000 good-paying jobs, ease traffic on I-15, and cut more than 400,000 tons of carbon pollution each year."
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Absolutely 👍 Along with the economic boost Brightline West will provide, people in the corridor between Las Vegas and Los Angeles can expect to have their daily lives made simpler with quicker travel times. The trains on this line will be capable of reaching speeds of up to 186 miles per hour, cutting the time of the journey from Vegas to L.A. from four to two hours.
Plus, studies have shown that traveling via high-speed trains produces much less air pollution per person than traveling by plane or vehicle, so people in the area can breathe more easily even when they aren't traveling.
However, though construction is about to begin, it will take a while to complete. The Nevada Department of Transportation estimates there will be up to three years of heavy construction before the rails are laid, and the entire process will likely take four years in total. The hoped-for opening date for Brightline West is 2028, though.
Still, things are a bit up in the air when it comes to ensuring fully completed funding for the rail and a concrete start date for construction. 8 News Now quoted Nevada Department of Transportation senior project manager Eric Scheetz, who said, "Literally, stuff is changing by the minute."
Scheetz also explained in a recent presentation that the high-speed rail line will have four stations total and operate 37 trains. Considering Brightline should serve roughly 8.6 million one-way passengers yearly, travel could be much simpler for a significant number of people shortly.
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