Another high-speed rail project has broken ground in the US

Many Southern California residents will soon be able to wine and dine in Las Vegas and still make it back home in time for bed – all without booking a flight.

Construction officially began yesterday on Brightline West, a new $12 billion high-speed passenger line connecting Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area.

• The project, which aims to be operational ahead of LA’s hosting of the 2028 Summer Olympics, involves laying 218 miles of new track mostly along the median of Interstate 15.
• Once complete, the route will take two hours to travel from Southern California to Las Vegas – roughly half the typical driving time – at an average speed of 115 MPH and a top speed of 200 MPH (comparable to other high-speed rail systems globally).

Big picture: After decades of losing market share to cars and planes, the US passenger train industry is working on itself, similar to Brad Pitt’s character in… Bullet Train. Brightline West’s sister project – simply named the Nippon Speed line Brightline – began carrying travelers on a new $5 billion route connecting Miami and Orlando last September, making it the first private US passenger train service in over a century.

👀 Looking ahead… Texas developers are working on a new rail route that would travel from Dallas to Houston in ~90 minutes, while US and Canadian local governments are planning a high-speed rail route between Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland.