Despite a significant funding deficit and the rampant public backlash on the extravagant projected prices of the tickets, the much-anticipated high-speed rail project setting its route between Los Angeles and Las Vegas has taken its tangible first step – at last.
The Brightline West venture currently stands short of approximately half of the earmarked $12 billion budget. The venture’s founder has also been on the receiving end of a public uproar, following their revelation. They casually dropped that a round trip aboard the Brightline would strip travellers’ wallets of more than $400. Yet, these obstacles have not stalled the momentum.
The beating heart of the railway – the route – is pulsating through the median of Interstate 15. Taking a meticulous leaf out of engineering, Interstate 15 would be hosting the train, but the actual tracks to carry this behemoth are yet to be integrated into the plan.
Specialist engineers from both Nevada and the Golden State are diligently surveying and piloting geotechnical drilling along the median of Interstate 15. Once the tracks are laid and barriers overcome, the train will charge along this artery at breathtaking speeds of up to 200 mph. The aim of this geological analysis is to detect any unsuitable bases for construction, including potentially problematic types of soil, such as loose, coarse-grained, peaty, or overly soft fine-grained soils.
Brightline West will stake out a respectable 218-mile stretch starting from Las Vegas and terminating at Rancho Cucamonga in California. This route will predominantly snake along with the Interstate 15 right-of-way. But don’t fret, for handling the final 37-mile course west to Los Angeles would be the light rail connections.
According to KLAS-TV/Las Vegas, the Nevada team is proactively making way closer to the Californian frontier. Meanwhile, the California crew is concentrating their efforts in the Cajon Pass and near Hesperia.
Interestingly, this project is reigniting the tracks of something once dearly missed — the first bona fide passenger train service to Las Vegas — a service which Amtrak discontinued with the cessation of its Desert Wind service back in 1997.
However, it’s not all smooth sailing. The preparation for this revival is casting palpable disruptions to the routine traffic flow in Las Vegas, affecting the lives of locals and tourists alike. The freeway shoulders are slated to undergo short-term closures, both during the day and at night, a nuisance that is quickly becoming the new normal.
Brightline is ambitious about the rollout of this state-of-the-art rail service – they aim to make it operational in time for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. All eyes are on the horizon for this pioneering high-speed spectacle to breach the finish line, both metaphorically and in reality.
