Brightline West officially broke ground on what it said was the nation’s first true high-speed rail system, which will connect Las Vegas to Southern California.
The 218-mile system will be constructed in the middle of the I-15 and is based on Brightline’s vision to connect city pairs that are too short to fly and too far to drive. Hailed as the greenest form of transportation in the world, Brightline West will run zero emission, fully electric trains capable of speeds of 200 miles per hour.
Brightline West is a watershed project for high-speed rail in America and will establish the foundation for creating a new industry and supply chain. The project was recently awarded $3 billion in funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. The rest of the project will be privately funded and has received a total allocation of $3.5 billion in private activity bonds from U.S. Department of Transportation.
