California is set to spend $10 billion on a new high-speed train that will take passengers from Las Angeles to Las Vegas in two hours.
The 218-mile rail system, constructed by Brightline, will use bullet trains that carry 1,200 passengers and reach up to 200 miles per hour.
Brightline is set to start construction this year, meaning services could be operational by 2026.
Brightline, the only private railway company in the US, claims their high-speed train will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 400,000 tons, as the bullet trains are powered with electricity.
Brightline is set to begin construction on a 218-mile track that will send bullet trains from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in half the time
Trains are expected to leave every 45 minutes from downtown Los Angeles for a station located on the Vegas strip.
‘Approximately 50 million one-way trips are made annually between these two destinations, with 85 percent of them by car or bus,’ Brightline shared in a statement.
‘At full operations, we expect to attract approximately 12 million one-way trips each year.’
The bullet trains will provide several amenities, including free onboard WiFi, a wide selection of food and beverage, checked luggage and hotel check-in services.
However, the project was supposed to be finished by 2020, and now, engineers, product managers and Californians have lost hope.
In April 2021, Brightline West’s CEO, Mike Reininger, predicted construction would start ‘in a matter of weeks.’
The trains reach up to 200 miles per hour, cutting the four-hour trip by car in half
Brightline West includes stations near the iconic Las Vegas Strip and in Rancho Cucamonga (pictured), Apple Valley and Hesperia, California.
California is developing its own high-speed railway system that will span from Anaheim to San Francisco – but this system will cost around $100 billion to construct.
