New High Speed Train Could Link Vegas and Southern California

Travel agents may soon have a new way to sell Las Vegas and Southern California at the same time.

Brightline, the company that has built high-speed rail links between Miami and Palm Beach and ultimately will move north to Orlando, says it has purchased a company that's aiming to connect Sin City with the Southern California town of Victorville, northeast of Los Angeles.

The Las Vegas Sun and other media report that a high-speed rail project could make the trip possible in two hours.

Construction is apparently planned to start next year and service could begin in 2022.

Victorville is north of San Bernardino, about 80 minutes from downtown L.A. in good traffic (admittedly a rarity in Southern California).

Travellers currently make more than 50 million trips a year between Vegas and Southern California by automobile or plane, Wes Edens, co-founder and co-chief executive officer of Brightline owner Fortress Investment Group, said in a statement.

Brightline currently operates commuter and tourist trains that run from Miami to Fort Lauderdale and onto Palm Beach.

"Brightline is changing transportation in our country by connecting heavily trafficked corridors that are too long to drive and too short to fly," Edens said in the Las Vegas Sun story. "Our experience in Florida is proving that private-sector investment has a meaningful role to play in developing transportation infrastructure.

"We're excited to bring Brightline's world-class and convenient travel experience to Southern California and Las Vegas," he said.

A Las Vegas station for the service would likely be built near The Strip. Brightline is said to be acquiring 38 acres of land for the station and a mixed-use development.

The first Southern California station is planned for Victorville, within a 30- to 45-minute drive of the four-to-five million people who live in the so-called Inland Empire region (including San Bernardino and Riverside) and eastern Los Angeles County, The Sun reported.

Planning is ongoing for added stations and for a connection to other Southern California rail lines.

It could be a ways away, but it makes for an interesting way for Canadians and other visitors to shuttle between Vegas and Southern California; perhaps someday all the way into Los Angeles proper. Ultimately, it could even link up to a planned high-speed rail line that would link L.A. with San Francisco, and wouldn't that be a treat?

Amtrak ran a train between California and Las Vegas from around 1979 to 1997.

Travel agents may soon have a new way to sell Las Vegas and Southern California at the same time.

Brightline, the company that has built high-speed rail links between Miami and Palm Beach and ultimately will move north to Orlando, says it has purchased a company that's aiming to connect Sin City with the Southern California town of Victorville, northeast of Los Angeles.

The Las Vegas Sun and other media report that a high-speed rail project could make the trip possible in two hours.

Construction is apparently planned to start next year and service could begin in 2022.

Victorville is north of San Bernardino, about 80 minutes from downtown L.A. in good traffic (admittedly a rarity in Southern California).

Travellers currently make more than 50 million trips a year between Vegas and Southern California by automobile or plane, Wes Edens, co-founder and co-chief executive officer of Brightline owner Fortress Investment Group, said in a statement.

Brightline currently operates commuter and tourist trains that run from Miami to Fort Lauderdale and onto Palm Beach.

"Brightline is changing transportation in our country by connecting heavily trafficked corridors that are too long to drive and too short to fly," Edens said in the Las Vegas Sun story. "Our experience in Florida is proving that private-sector investment has a meaningful role to play in developing transportation infrastructure.

"We're excited to bring Brightline's world-class and convenient travel experience to Southern California and Las Vegas," he said.

A Las Vegas station for the service would likely be built near The Strip. Brightline is said to be acquiring 38 acres of land for the station and a mixed-use development.

The first Southern California station is planned for Victorville, within a 30- to 45-minute drive of the 4 million to 5 million people who live in the Inland Empire and eastern Los Angeles County, The Sun reported.

Planning is ongoing for added stations and for a connection to other Southern California rail lines.

It could be a ways away, but it makes for an interesting way for Canadians and other visitors to shuttle between Vegas and Southern California; perhaps someday all the way into Los Angeles proper. Ultimately, it could even link up to a planned high-speed rail line that would link L.A. with San Francisco, and wouldn't that be a treat?

Amtrak ran a train between California and Las Vegas from around 1979 to 1997.

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