A Los Angeles bullet train is in the making, and it will connect our city with Las Vegas in about two hours, which means cutting in half the driving time to reach “Sin City”. The announcement was made today and the project is expected to be completed by the year 2028, aiming to be finished by the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. This project will be the first genuine high-speed passenger rail line, designed to achieve speeds of 186 mph, similar to Japan’s Shinkansen bullet trains.
The project will be executed by Brightline West, the sister company of an existing fast train service between Miami and Orlando in Florida. They will lay 218 miles of new track connecting Las Vegas to a new facility in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Nearly the entire stretch will be constructed along the median of Interstate 15, with a station stop planned in San Bernardino County’s Victorville area. The aim of the company is to connect U.S. cities that are too close for air travel to be practical yet too far apart for comfortable driving.
According to the project plans, electric-powered trains will slash the current four-hour journey across the Mojave Desert to just over two hours. Projections anticipate around 11 million one-way passengers annually, averaging about 30,000 passengers per day, with fares significantly lower than air travel costs. The trains will feature amenities such as restrooms, Wi-Fi, onboard food and beverage services, and the option to check luggage. Now, is it too soon