The first ‘real’ high-speed train is coming to the United States: catching up appears to be in the making

The official start of construction of the first high-speed line in the US has been given at the future location of a station close to the famous Las Vegas Strip. “It’s really happening this time,” US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg assured those in attendance.

The high-speed train ‘Brightline West’ should reach a speed of about 300 kilometers per hour and halve the travel time between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, from about 4 hours to 2 hours. To this end, approximately 315 kilometers of train track will be constructed on the median of the I-15 freeway, between Las Vegas and Rancho Cucamonga in Southern California.

People have been dreaming of high-speed trains in America for decades

Stops are planned in Apple Valley and Hesperia in Victor Valley, a region in the Mojave Desert. From Rancho Cucamonga, travelers can then transfer to a regional line to downtown Los Angeles. The total cost of the project is around 12 billion dollars (11.2 billion euros) and everything must be ready for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

“People have been dreaming about high-speed rail in America for decades,” Buttigieg said. According to the Transport Minister, the project will create thousands of jobs, boost the local economy and traffic and reduce air pollution.

The company behind the high-speed train is Brightline, founded in 2012 under the name ‘All Aboard Florida’. It is a subsidiary of Florida East Coast Industries, Florida’s oldest and largest commercial real estate, transportation and infrastructure holding company.

The company had ambitious plans for an intercity fast train between Miami and Orlando, Florida. A plan that many found unrealistic, but became reality in 2018. How? Instead of being completely dependent on government financing, it turned mainly to private investors.

In 2015 the name changed to Brightline, since then the mission has been “to connect cities over distances too short to fly but too far to drive”. In 2018, Brightline acquired XpressWest, a private company that wanted to create a rail connection between Las Vegas and Southern California.

And Brightline also appealed to private financing for the construction of this train connection. Private bonds and capital will cover most of the costs. Of the $12 billion, only $3.75 billion comes from the government. And not unimportant: the project enjoys the support of both Republicans and Democrats in both the state of Nevada and California.

The first railroads were built in the US almost 200 years ago, and the train network became one of the most advanced in the world. But with the rise of the American automobile industry and aviation, the railroads fell into decline.

Today, the railway infrastructure in many places is too outdated to accommodate high-speed trains, and passenger and freight trains use the same tracks. But acquiring land and capital is also often difficult.

The station in Las Vegas, near the Las Vegas Strip where the famous hotels and casinos are located.
Photo: Brightstar West

The US does have a few fast trains today, such as the Amtrak Acela trains between Boston, New York and Washington with a top speed of 241 kilometers per hour and the Brightline trains between Miami and Orlando in Florida, with a top speed of 209 kilometers per hour per hour.

But to talk about a high-speed train, the International Union of Railways (UIC) stipulates a minimum speed of 250 kilometers per hour. With the construction of the train connection between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, a high-speed train will now really be available.

Plans for a high-speed connection between San Francisco and Los Angeles have also been on the table for years. But the 805-kilometre link has been plagued by rising costs and disputes over the route.

In December 2023, the Federal Railroad Administration announced it plans to pump $8 billion into passenger rail projects.

With the realization of the “fast” train connection between Miami and Orlando and the future high-speed connections between Las Vegas and Los Angeles and San Francisco and Los Angeles, the US seems to be catching up in the field of high-speed trains.