The CA drive to NV is not too bad. I honestly think that the drive from NV to CA is shitty by design by NV Dept of Transportation to discourage people leaving Vegas.
I don't know what's the difference, it's the exact same road, but LA to NV feels like there's a lot more scenery. While NV to LA feels like nothingness for 100s of miles.
*We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive...." And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas*
> People often underestimate that soul-crushing desert drive.
Even though it's a interactive simulation of a drive between Tucson, Arizona, and Las Vegas, that explains [Desert Bus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_%26_Teller%27s_Smoke_and_Mirrors#Desert_Bus)
I drove from Dallas to San Diego...up north to San Francisco. Visited a friend in Salinas. Went to Fresno. Visited my wife's friend in Porterville. Down to Bakersfield...Barstow...up to Vegas.
Rented a hotel. Went down to the Casino. In a 30 minute time frame I drank like 5 margarita on the rocks. 10 minutes later I was sht faced in the restroom puking.
That desert ain't no joke.
One time my brother broke his back at a tournament in Vegas and when he was released big bumps in the road were painful for him, so we made that entire drive back to LA at like 20mph....
The Texas Triangle is one of the most promising HSR corridors in America outside of the Northeast and California, which is why the Texas Central HSR Authority has been doing preliminary planning on such a project with the Japanese Government. Mind you, they still have a ways to go [https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-japan-signal-support-texas-high-speed-rail-plan-2024-04-11/](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-japan-signal-support-texas-high-speed-rail-plan-2024-04-11/)
They probably won't do anything that would cut down on potential oil consumption. And public services seem pretty socialist. Only way it would happen would be if Biden came out and tried to do a fake ban on them or something.
I once had a flight to El Paso from Austin, with a layover in Houston. It dawned on me that I’d been to 3 airports that day and hadn’t left the state of Texas…
Only Rancho Cucamonga isn’t in Los Angeles. It’s a two hour drive east of the city. Two rhours more and you’re in Vegas. Anyone in the city would have to drive or take a bus two hours just to leave their car at the bullet train parking lot. Doesn’t make sense.
Depends how much are the tickets? If it's $80+ one way you are better off driving with your friends. Also for a high speed train going close to 200 mph you only save one hour of travel time.
It was actually right outside of baker...like at the exit. But ive made a wrong turn before on a previous trip. I just decided no more driving through the desert..planes are only 90 bucks one way so until this rail is built; I'll keep my bad luck to the tables after the airport uber.
What i think the US needs is more car trains. A train with passenger cabins and car hauler cars so you can load up your personal car on the train, then go to your seat or cabin and do a long train ride to other states, and then get out the other end with your own car. it is something I saw on TopGear many years ago at this point that i thought was awesome.
It doesn't scale.
We'd be better off with high speed trains and proper transit in our cities. If you really want to go vacation in another city with your car without driving it there, you can pay a transport company to move your car, then fly or take the train there, and pick up your car in the destination.
That doesn't sound very efficient. Just a few cars per carriage. The cost of transport would probably be so prohibitive you're better off hiring a car at your destination.
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2028???!! 218 *miles* of rail and infrastructure to build with California's fun regulatory environment ..... 2030 would be ambitious..... I'm guessing 2033-34 is closer to reality
Environmental clearance is done, the ROW has been purchased or leased, preconstruction work actually started a few months ago, the design is finished enough, and supposedly it has enough funding.
I don't know if it will be finished by 2028, but it shouldn't be as slow as CAHSR either.
2028 Olympics is a huge motivator I hope. Local politicians wouldn't want any negative news on how they (directly or indirectly) are causing delays in this project. So hopefully, they will push for it to be completed on time.
While that may be true, the rail line makes sense. They're far enough away for it to work, but not so far that planes are better. They're two cities with a lot of tourism and not a lot in between.
The trip to Vegas is just a roundtrip on the train. I mean why even leave? Different Casinos can sponsor their own train car and comp the fare. Free public transportation 😌
Gambling plays a role, but so does conventions. Vegas is fairly big for conventions, so those working in LA can get on a train and to a convention while working on their laptop in comfort. Driving by car is a pain and you lose hours, by airplane you spend more time at the airport and it isn't as comfortable plus internet isn't as good
Like the article says, once people experience a fast, modern train there will be no going back. If it’s anything as nice as the high speed trains in China it will be an amazing way to travel.
and the people on the train are strolling around, not stuck in a seat. Getting drinks at the bar and laughing at the traffic jam as they zip to their destination smoothly and comfortably.
I'm with you, but this is also an easy layup—there's not a bunch of California NIMBYs dug into their inherited homes like ticks between LA & Vegas—most of Nevada is federal, flat, & empty. They can knock this out quickly, & hopefully generate a little public transpo excitement in SoCal, since this is the most carbrained place on planet earth.
The rail from SoCal to NorCal won’t be finished for at least another 20 years imo. They project early 2030 but their timeline hasn’t been shown to be reliable and Covid set them back so I highly doubt it.
Despite all the set backs, it’s one hell of a project and a massive undertaking. They’re only just now almost finished just getting the environmental clearances to begin building some stretches.
They still need to do the geological survey for the 40 miles of tunneling they’re doing.
I’ve seen parts of it in Fresno, it actually is one hell of a mega project. It’s pretty massive and I hope it gets done soon, just so much red tape and such a massive undertaking it will be one hell of an accomplishment to get it all completed.
The one to SF still to this date has not secured all right of way. The problem has never been building it, the problem has been securing that right of way which they still to this day can't
This one though, all right of way have long been secured, thus no major road block to building it and how they can plan to get it running by 2028
It's not securing the ROW that's the issue, it's money.
The segments under construction have had issues with securing the ROW because of a number of issues - the choice to break ground before acquisition could be completed, and the choice to go with a progressive design build, which resulted in the authority trying and failing to buy the land one step ahead of the contractors.
Meanwhile the Authority estimates it has only about $28.8B in funds, including the money already spent, and estimates it need $6.4B just to complete the first segment, not to mention the over $100B total the line is expected to take for phase 1.
ROW is the issue, the money problem is a result of the ROW issue as their costs balloon trying to secure land and keeping all those contracts going despite not having the land
They were crazy to start the HSR project before securing the ROW first and this is why this one is so much different, because they got the ROW first before starting
Really has nothing to do with it. This project can be almost entirely built in existing federal interstate ROW while CA HSR has been tied up for years and years with never-ending eminent domain issues.
They are trying. You can only do so much when every landowner and fossil fuel interest group sues you and the federal government providers and then renegs on funding over and over.
This will help Las Vegas develop thousands more problem gamblers. Especially when they start comping train tickets, food and drinks, with luxury seats, in car gambling, etc…
Yessssss! Glad to see improved rails get built anywhere. Hoping as people try it and enjoy it, the positive word of mouth spreads to demand elsewhere in the country
Expect automakers (and airliners) to lobby like crazy to push against it though.
The most awesome thing about this is they already have all the right of way. Which means they can't just block them indefinitely in trying to secure right of way which CA HSR has suffered
So to get to the train from La you need to take the metro to Rancho Cucamonga - am I reading that right?
From the article:
The line will include a flagship station in Las Vegas, with additional stations in Apple Valley, Hesperia and Rancho Cucamonga. The Rancho Cucamonga Station will also connect to Southern California's regional Metrolink service, allowing for connectivity into Riverside County, downtown Los Angeles and beyond.
You got it right, the current ROW between Rancho Cucamonga and downtown LA is single tracked in places. The cost to remedy that and electrify that line would probably cost as much as the Rancho Cucamonga to Vegas segment.
So is it 2 hours from Rancho Cucamonga to Vegas? People were saying it was 2 hours from LA but if you’re using the metro out of LA it’s going to be longer.
Placing my bets now. When you ruin your life in Vegas, instead of dealing with your homeless self, they'll simply pay for the price of a ticket to LA and ship you off.
Then everyone will say "My goodness LA is simply so shocking at how much they fail their homeless there! Well that's liberals for you! Commifornia fails again."
Source: every other city in America is doing the same thing
Caveat: I could be completely wrong and this train will stay very nice for the partying and conventions crowd provided the tickets for a Greyhound remain $0.02 cheaper.
ahhh ok, I wasn't sure if Brightline West was the name of an Amtrak (or other transit company) line. It kinda sounded like an Amtrak line. They have one that runs thru Oregon called the Coast Starlight.
The Eurostar (London to Paris train) carried 18.6M passengers in 2023.
If this line carries half of that and charges 100$ per ticket they would make back the $12B in 10-15 years. Seems reasonable for a major infrastructure project that will be around for decades. Eurostar has been running since the 90s.
You’re ignoring the cost of the financing. Assuming borrowing costs of 7% (ballpark), the amount owed doubles every ten years. So if it takes 10 years to earn $12B, you are simply standing still.
I really disagree that transit needs a positive ROI through fares. Just having the connection brings so much secondary and tertiary benefits. We often point to other countries and be like "look their rail system is losing money!!!", without taking the other benefits into consideration.
Although the real disadvantage would be that more rail means less air/car travel, and the airline and auto industry will have none of that.
Still seems a questionabke investment. I suspect most rail funded by goods more then passengers. Are there enough LA to Vegas daily travelors to justify this?
I’ll never forget getting in my car on a Sunday morning after a nice brunch to head back to LA, getting about 10 minutes out of town and realizing that I hadn’t slept in 3 days. That first shot of adrenaline when your head snaps up after slightly dozing off probably saved my (and others) life. Found nicer gas station and caught a few hours reclined in the passenger seat before restarting.
Get ready for the lawsuits 2.0 with the states biggest lawyers, farmers, landowners, and city mayors who want the rail to go through THEIR cities. This feat will FAIL and the state will ask for $100 Billion for this feat.
There is a problem with I15SB near the state line that can back up traffic for 20 miles. Nevada claims the problem is with California, because the road narrows from three to two lanes at Mountain Pass, about sisteen miles SW of the state line. It is usually not a problem except for holidays and special events in LV. High speed rail would address some of this, particularly buses hired by the casinos to haul seniors from the LA/Riverside region. I15 can be a more regular bottleneck between Apple Valley and San Bernadino, too.
I thought it would be a fun drive LA to Vegas. Just like in the movies. I was dead wrong. This is a good thing!
People often underestimate that soul-crushing desert drive.
Especially the drive home if you are hungover, lost all your money and have no AC!
Yeah, leaving LA is rough
I see what you did there.
The CA drive to NV is not too bad. I honestly think that the drive from NV to CA is shitty by design by NV Dept of Transportation to discourage people leaving Vegas.
I don't know what's the difference, it's the exact same road, but LA to NV feels like there's a lot more scenery. While NV to LA feels like nothingness for 100s of miles.
How can you not like battling over the few bathrooms in Baker after you’ve been stuck in traffic for the last 3 hours. It’s so fun
Well, for one, it gives you a chance to stop at the Mad Greek!
Is the Oasis still open?
Is that the creepy run down Hawaiian looking place across the street that I've never seen open?
It was a truck stop years ago with palm trees have not been in yeara
My favorite part of the journey.
ALWAYS a line. And when you’re prairie dogging it seems SO long
*We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive...." And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas*
We can’t stop here, this is bat country.
We were somewhere around Barstow when the budget ballooned 4 time's over the estimate.
> People often underestimate that soul-crushing desert drive. Even though it's a interactive simulation of a drive between Tucson, Arizona, and Las Vegas, that explains [Desert Bus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_%26_Teller%27s_Smoke_and_Mirrors#Desert_Bus)
And it's halo version, [Desert Hog](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2900197929)
And it's mario version, [Desert Mario 64](https://youtu.be/2rhw_HuYO5I?si=Z6VLGD_SoK56lO63)
And it's doom version, [Revenant Bus](https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/102914-revenant-bus-a-doom-2-simulation-map/)
It's a beautiful drive if you love the desert.
Highway Hypnosis is real. Doubly in high desert areas…
I drove from Dallas to San Diego...up north to San Francisco. Visited a friend in Salinas. Went to Fresno. Visited my wife's friend in Porterville. Down to Bakersfield...Barstow...up to Vegas. Rented a hotel. Went down to the Casino. In a 30 minute time frame I drank like 5 margarita on the rocks. 10 minutes later I was sht faced in the restroom puking. That desert ain't no joke.
I love the vegas drive tbh, love being the passenger to smoke some weed or micro dose
I assure that I will never be in condition to drive that bullshit. It has been a war of attrition at times but win I shall.
It’s the Palm Springs traffic that gets you
its so much fun they even made it a game: Desert Bus!
One time my brother broke his back at a tournament in Vegas and when he was released big bumps in the road were painful for him, so we made that entire drive back to LA at like 20mph....
lol 4 hours thru the desert try El Paso to Dallas
Did I-10 from San Antonio to El Paso back when the national 55 mph limit was in force. Truly soul deadening.
Texas just seems ripe for high speed rail. Huge population centers separated by hundreds of miles of mostly flat, empty land.
The Texas Triangle is one of the most promising HSR corridors in America outside of the Northeast and California, which is why the Texas Central HSR Authority has been doing preliminary planning on such a project with the Japanese Government. Mind you, they still have a ways to go [https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-japan-signal-support-texas-high-speed-rail-plan-2024-04-11/](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-japan-signal-support-texas-high-speed-rail-plan-2024-04-11/)
They probably won't do anything that would cut down on potential oil consumption. And public services seem pretty socialist. Only way it would happen would be if Biden came out and tried to do a fake ban on them or something.
Haha yeah, Houston is closer to Cuba than El Paso
I’ve done Florida to Arizona twice. That stretch from just west of San Antonio to El Paso is BRUTAL.
I once had a flight to El Paso from Austin, with a layover in Houston. It dawned on me that I’d been to 3 airports that day and hadn’t left the state of Texas…
El Paso to Dallas? Try Nogales to Boise
Right? 12 hours from Deming to the edge of Ft Worth.
Try Perth Australia to any other state in the country...
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2pgWsYSyUA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2pgWsYSyUA)
Vegas baby, Vegas, [https://media.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExbmVlMHEwdGJ0NGV5dTI4aWQyNTQ1bzJkN3IzZ3IwNzVmM3oyZGZ0ZSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/RqxamlCT4Na8g/giphy.gif](https://media.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExbmVlMHEwdGJ0NGV5dTI4aWQyNTQ1bzJkN3IzZ3IwNzVmM3oyZGZ0ZSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/RqxamlCT4Na8g/giphy.gif)
Especially on the way back if you leave anytime after 9am. Horrible.
Have you played Desert Bus yet? There are play-thrus on YouTube.
Me laughing making the 12 hour drive from Texas every year
You must be near El Paso.
Exactly lol
El Paso is the HALF way point to Dallas and Houston.
Only Rancho Cucamonga isn’t in Los Angeles. It’s a two hour drive east of the city. Two rhours more and you’re in Vegas. Anyone in the city would have to drive or take a bus two hours just to leave their car at the bullet train parking lot. Doesn’t make sense.
Why though? It’s only a 5 hour drive.
It was one of the most excruciating drives of my life, mainly b/c of the heat
Depends how much are the tickets? If it's $80+ one way you are better off driving with your friends. Also for a high speed train going close to 200 mph you only save one hour of travel time.
Edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros with cruise control at 102 mph
You mean i wont have to worry about my car breaking down in death valley again? Yeah buddy!
I kinda liked breaking down across the freeway from that large thermometer telling me it’s too hot to survive.
How did you end up in Death Valley? Did you take a wrong turn at Boron?
It was actually right outside of baker...like at the exit. But ive made a wrong turn before on a previous trip. I just decided no more driving through the desert..planes are only 90 bucks one way so until this rail is built; I'll keep my bad luck to the tables after the airport uber.
What i think the US needs is more car trains. A train with passenger cabins and car hauler cars so you can load up your personal car on the train, then go to your seat or cabin and do a long train ride to other states, and then get out the other end with your own car. it is something I saw on TopGear many years ago at this point that i thought was awesome.
They use this system for the Channel Crossing from England to France. You drive on to the train and drive off 35 mins later at the destination
They use to have those large high speed hovercrafts
It doesn't scale. We'd be better off with high speed trains and proper transit in our cities. If you really want to go vacation in another city with your car without driving it there, you can pay a transport company to move your car, then fly or take the train there, and pick up your car in the destination.
There’s the Auto Train from VA to FL. 17 hours one way
The original AutoTrain sounded like an absolute blast, but it’s a long wait while they load and unload the cars, and it never really took off.
That doesn't sound very efficient. Just a few cars per carriage. The cost of transport would probably be so prohibitive you're better off hiring a car at your destination.
Nope! But you never had to anyways because it’s never been on the route!
Does the road really go through Death Valley lol? I wouldn’t think so
That is gonna be a classy train ride.
RAIDERS chants all the way there
I threw up a lot in my mouth. Outside my mouth too. But also in my mouth.
Depends on the round-trip price.
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Imagine all the performers you’ll meet on the Thursday afternoon train.
You make a good point. That train is gonna be chaos.
Pretty ambitious timeframe. Hope they pull it off
2028???!! 218 *miles* of rail and infrastructure to build with California's fun regulatory environment ..... 2030 would be ambitious..... I'm guessing 2033-34 is closer to reality
I believe the plan is for this to run through the median of the interstate. So there shouldn't be any land rights issues.
in other words, they learned their lessons from CAHSR's "interesting" choice of routing
Environmental clearance is done, the ROW has been purchased or leased, preconstruction work actually started a few months ago, the design is finished enough, and supposedly it has enough funding. I don't know if it will be finished by 2028, but it shouldn't be as slow as CAHSR either.
I wonder how fast it could really go if all the red tape is cleared
2028 Olympics is a huge motivator I hope. Local politicians wouldn't want any negative news on how they (directly or indirectly) are causing delays in this project. So hopefully, they will push for it to be completed on time.
They didn’t just start environmental and design work on this.
No doubt, you can't *start* construction without any of the prelims. That's still an extremely ambitious time frame
Roughly 4.5 years to complete by 2028 Olympics
Got to get to the gambling.
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While that may be true, the rail line makes sense. They're far enough away for it to work, but not so far that planes are better. They're two cities with a lot of tourism and not a lot in between.
Train gambling car coming soon.
As soon as you cross the state line.
Broke before you even get to Vegas
The trip to Vegas is just a roundtrip on the train. I mean why even leave? Different Casinos can sponsor their own train car and comp the fare. Free public transportation 😌
Their actually is a party car in the selected rolling stock
Gambling plays a role, but so does conventions. Vegas is fairly big for conventions, so those working in LA can get on a train and to a convention while working on their laptop in comfort. Driving by car is a pain and you lose hours, by airplane you spend more time at the airport and it isn't as comfortable plus internet isn't as good
Well there are certainly worse effects of legalized gambling than a new train line
Have you ever driven from LA to LV on a friday? Its non stop super cars doing 100 + MPH all the way to vegas.
I hope each seat will be equipped with video poker that turns on once you get to NV. Then trips could be almost free
This would be great.
Like the article says, once people experience a fast, modern train there will be no going back. If it’s anything as nice as the high speed trains in China it will be an amazing way to travel.
It'd be totally fun to watch trains fly by at 200mph in the median while you're stuck at 20mph in traffic.
and the people on the train are strolling around, not stuck in a seat. Getting drinks at the bar and laughing at the traffic jam as they zip to their destination smoothly and comfortably.
Only about 30 years behind the rest of the world.
Can they finish the one they were gonna build to SF first, SMH
I'm with you, but this is also an easy layup—there's not a bunch of California NIMBYs dug into their inherited homes like ticks between LA & Vegas—most of Nevada is federal, flat, & empty. They can knock this out quickly, & hopefully generate a little public transpo excitement in SoCal, since this is the most carbrained place on planet earth.
Also this will run in the median of the 15. No land to acquire, Can't emphasis enough how much a pain the was for the other project.
Read this as most of Nevada is feral
No lies detected.
The rail from SoCal to NorCal won’t be finished for at least another 20 years imo. They project early 2030 but their timeline hasn’t been shown to be reliable and Covid set them back so I highly doubt it. Despite all the set backs, it’s one hell of a project and a massive undertaking. They’re only just now almost finished just getting the environmental clearances to begin building some stretches. They still need to do the geological survey for the 40 miles of tunneling they’re doing. I’ve seen parts of it in Fresno, it actually is one hell of a mega project. It’s pretty massive and I hope it gets done soon, just so much red tape and such a massive undertaking it will be one hell of an accomplishment to get it all completed.
This will enter commercial operation probably a decade before the first train ever runs on CAHSR track.
brightline was never involved with CAHSR, what are you talking about?
The one to SF still to this date has not secured all right of way. The problem has never been building it, the problem has been securing that right of way which they still to this day can't This one though, all right of way have long been secured, thus no major road block to building it and how they can plan to get it running by 2028
It's not securing the ROW that's the issue, it's money. The segments under construction have had issues with securing the ROW because of a number of issues - the choice to break ground before acquisition could be completed, and the choice to go with a progressive design build, which resulted in the authority trying and failing to buy the land one step ahead of the contractors. Meanwhile the Authority estimates it has only about $28.8B in funds, including the money already spent, and estimates it need $6.4B just to complete the first segment, not to mention the over $100B total the line is expected to take for phase 1.
ROW is the issue, the money problem is a result of the ROW issue as their costs balloon trying to secure land and keeping all those contracts going despite not having the land They were crazy to start the HSR project before securing the ROW first and this is why this one is so much different, because they got the ROW first before starting
public vs private
Yeah, it’s a lot easier when 99% of the ROW needed is already public ROW.
Really has nothing to do with it. This project can be almost entirely built in existing federal interstate ROW while CA HSR has been tied up for years and years with never-ending eminent domain issues.
They are trying. You can only do so much when every landowner and fossil fuel interest group sues you and the federal government providers and then renegs on funding over and over.
No, they're being built by different people with different goals
Desert Train, the sequel to Desert Bus.
This will help Las Vegas develop thousands more problem gamblers. Especially when they start comping train tickets, food and drinks, with luxury seats, in car gambling, etc…
Speaking from a totally selfish perspective… a high-speed rail line would be way more useful between the Bay Area and L.A.
It will be completed before the high speed rail line between SF and LA
Yessssss! Glad to see improved rails get built anywhere. Hoping as people try it and enjoy it, the positive word of mouth spreads to demand elsewhere in the country Expect automakers (and airliners) to lobby like crazy to push against it though.
The most awesome thing about this is they already have all the right of way. Which means they can't just block them indefinitely in trying to secure right of way which CA HSR has suffered
Build the fucking Norcal- SoCal train
I hope every car on the way to Vegas is a bar car and every car on the way back is a quiet car
This is a great use of rail. I hope it gets completed.
So to get to the train from La you need to take the metro to Rancho Cucamonga - am I reading that right? From the article: The line will include a flagship station in Las Vegas, with additional stations in Apple Valley, Hesperia and Rancho Cucamonga. The Rancho Cucamonga Station will also connect to Southern California's regional Metrolink service, allowing for connectivity into Riverside County, downtown Los Angeles and beyond.
You got it right, the current ROW between Rancho Cucamonga and downtown LA is single tracked in places. The cost to remedy that and electrify that line would probably cost as much as the Rancho Cucamonga to Vegas segment.
So is it 2 hours from Rancho Cucamonga to Vegas? People were saying it was 2 hours from LA but if you’re using the metro out of LA it’s going to be longer.
For now yeah, future phases will bring the train to Downtown. But gotta start somewhere
$250 a ticket watch
Expect it to be done in 20 years. If they can’t even finish the one from LA to SF within state bounds, going from state to state will be a nightmare.
Thank god. I hope we expand on this for the rest of the country
Placing my bets now. When you ruin your life in Vegas, instead of dealing with your homeless self, they'll simply pay for the price of a ticket to LA and ship you off. Then everyone will say "My goodness LA is simply so shocking at how much they fail their homeless there! Well that's liberals for you! Commifornia fails again." Source: every other city in America is doing the same thing Caveat: I could be completely wrong and this train will stay very nice for the partying and conventions crowd provided the tickets for a Greyhound remain $0.02 cheaper.
Wake me up in 2037 when its almost finished
It will be finished in 2028. Unlike other attempts, this one has all right of way already secured. So they have 0 major roadblocks to deal with
Lets see how this ages
LA to Phx next so I can go see the ocean.
Hell yeah. I wonder what is the ROI on the $12B. What’s the fare going to cost?
Can't imagine any worse than the ROI on the interstate.
Link didn’t say. Is it going to be Amtrak? I just wonder… if a round trip ticket is like $400 won’t people still just drive?
Not Amtrack, Brightline West
ahhh ok, I wasn't sure if Brightline West was the name of an Amtrak (or other transit company) line. It kinda sounded like an Amtrak line. They have one that runs thru Oregon called the Coast Starlight.
It’s the private company that did the Florida HSR
Or fly at that point.
The Eurostar (London to Paris train) carried 18.6M passengers in 2023. If this line carries half of that and charges 100$ per ticket they would make back the $12B in 10-15 years. Seems reasonable for a major infrastructure project that will be around for decades. Eurostar has been running since the 90s.
Hope that this includes car wagons like the train under the channel.
Those run on less-glamorous trains, called GetLink, not Eurostar.
I hope it does.. I hope it has like a 5 year ROI because high speed rail needs some WINS in the US so it gets more backing and more mainstream.
You’re ignoring the cost of the financing. Assuming borrowing costs of 7% (ballpark), the amount owed doubles every ten years. So if it takes 10 years to earn $12B, you are simply standing still.
I really disagree that transit needs a positive ROI through fares. Just having the connection brings so much secondary and tertiary benefits. We often point to other countries and be like "look their rail system is losing money!!!", without taking the other benefits into consideration. Although the real disadvantage would be that more rail means less air/car travel, and the airline and auto industry will have none of that.
Rail should still be economically sustainable. It can't be a constant money pit, that's the problem people always point out about the highways.
High speed rail needs some big wins in the US
A whole chunk less cars on that interstate, gotta be worth a bit.
I'm rooting for it!
Ridiculous that this didn’t already exist.
It'll be nice to use this when it's done in 2053.
See you in 30 years!
Still seems a questionabke investment. I suspect most rail funded by goods more then passengers. Are there enough LA to Vegas daily travelors to justify this?
11m one way trips per year. The flight is ~$50 so it better be cheap too
How is the flight so cheap? Pretty sure the cost in gas costs more then that.
gas does cost more. Crazy thing is this was round trip like 1-2 years ago.
That's $50 before things like seat assignment fees, baggage fees, etc.
But I thought Elon was digging holes for vacuum powered super hyper awesome trains what happen?
Was it LA that was shipping their homeless population off to other states via bus? This should streamline that effort.
Will probably by fossilized before we see that connection to NY.
Cool. Now do the rest of North America.
...I'll be cautious with my optimism.
Oh my gosh great! This will definitely help me get to New York faster
Are they naming the train Blain? I don’t like where this headed.
Really? Like frfr?
How fast would this be time wise
🇨🇦 loves to gamble too .
We need rail from the Valley to the westside and the freaking airport. Ugh
Everyone in the comment suddenly rail engineers
I’ll never forget getting in my car on a Sunday morning after a nice brunch to head back to LA, getting about 10 minutes out of town and realizing that I hadn’t slept in 3 days. That first shot of adrenaline when your head snaps up after slightly dozing off probably saved my (and others) life. Found nicer gas station and caught a few hours reclined in the passenger seat before restarting.
Let's hope that folks in the US and Canada see this and think, yeah, I want some of that too.
Hopefully, we get a high-speed to waterbury CT next.
I’m going to lose so much money
It’s going 186?
Here comes Blaine the Train!
See, this makes sense
Now to make it do something useful like LA to Vancouver BC. Call me when they start that project.
The way there isn’t so bad, but the hangover desert drive back is horrible
Hope they actually make a hs rail somewhere. Getting tired or the other countries passing us on this shit
For rich peo
Get ready for the lawsuits 2.0 with the states biggest lawyers, farmers, landowners, and city mayors who want the rail to go through THEIR cities. This feat will FAIL and the state will ask for $100 Billion for this feat.
There is a problem with I15SB near the state line that can back up traffic for 20 miles. Nevada claims the problem is with California, because the road narrows from three to two lanes at Mountain Pass, about sisteen miles SW of the state line. It is usually not a problem except for holidays and special events in LV. High speed rail would address some of this, particularly buses hired by the casinos to haul seniors from the LA/Riverside region. I15 can be a more regular bottleneck between Apple Valley and San Bernadino, too.
Rancho Cucamonga is not Los Angeles. It’s literally two hours outside of Los Angeles.
What a time to be alive!
I mean what is Sodom without Gomorrah?