Brightline West to Receive $3B HSR Project Grant

Brightline West will advance its 218-mile high-speed rail (HSR) project linking Las Vegas and Southern California with a new $3 billion federal grant, according to Dec. 5 reports from members of Nevada’s congressional delegation.

Earlier this year, the Nevada Department of Transportation in coordination with Brightline West applied for a $3.75 billion Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Grant from the Federal Railroad Administration to help fund construction of the project, which is estimated to cost $12 billion. Sens. Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto—Nevada Democrats who co-led a bipartisan group of colleagues in a letter to the USDOT in support of the grant application—announced Dec. 5 that the award would be for $3 billion.

“This historic high-speed rail project will be a game changer for Nevada’s tourism economy and transportation,”Sen. Rosen said in her grant award press release.

“Connecting Las Vegas and Southern California by high-speed rail will create tens of thousands of good-paying union jobs, boost our Southern Nevada tourism economy, and finally help us cut down on I-15 traffic,”Sen. Cortez Masto said in a separate release.

U.S. Reps. Steven Horsford and Dina Titus—both Nevada Democrats—also signed the letter to the USDOT and issued grant award announcements.

“I have been engaged in conversations with Secretary (Pete) Buttigieg, Brightline, and our labor leaders to ensure that local workers and our Nevada small businesses will be the ones to benefit from this historic and monumental investment,” Rep. Horsford said.

“As far back as 2001, I’ve been advocating to bring a true high-speed rail system to Southern Nevada, and I am thrilled that this funding will allow Brightline West and the Nevada Department of Transportation to do just that,” said Rep. Titus. “This project will help bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue and create thousands of good-paying, union jobs. We’ll be creating jobs, reducing emissions, alleviating traffic, and setting an unprecedented example for the possibilities of high-speed rail in our country.”

According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, “[i]t is expected that President Joe Biden will make an official announcement about the grant award Friday [Dec. 8] in Las Vegas.” A source told the newspaper that Congress has been informed of the grant; the paper noted that “Congress is required to be notified 72 hours ahead of an official grant announcement and the White House has already confirmed Biden is scheduled to be in Las Vegas Friday, which fits into that timeline.”

The proposed Las Vegas-to-Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., HSR system is expected to take about four years to build. It would primarily operate within the median of the I-15 right-of-way and include stations in Apple Valley and Hesperia (see map, top). The Rancho Cucamonga station would be located next to the existing Metrolink station, allowing for a link to commuter rail service, including to downtown Los Angeles. Additionally, Brightline West has reported working with the California High Speed Rail Authority on future connectivity in Palmdale.

The current plan is to operate 25 trains in each direction between Las Vegas and Rancho Cucamonga every day. Trains would depart from both cities at 45-minute intervals and run at up to 180 mph.

Brightline Founder and Chairman Wes Edens said in a statement to the Las Vegas Review Journal: “We’re honored and humbled in the confidence President Biden, Secretary (Pete) Buttigieg, Senator Rosen and so many others have placed in Brightline’s vision to bring true high-speed rail to America. This is a historic moment that will serve as a foundation for a new industry, and a remarkable project that will serve as the blueprint for how we can repeat this model throughout the country. We’re ready to get to work to bring our vision of American made, American built, world class, state-of-the-art high speed train travel to America.”

In related developments, the Surface Transportation Board in November authorized the construction and operation of a modified alignment of Brightline West’s planned high-speed line, subject to environmental mitigation measures; San Bernardino County Transportation Authority in June was awarded a $25 million RAISE program grant from the USDOT to fund the final design and construction of two Brightline West stations and associated facilities in Hesperia and in the Victor Valley of San Bernardino County; and Brightline West in March teamed with the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California and the Southern Nevada Building Trades Union on its planned system.