Brightline West (XpressWest, DesertXpress) Las Vegas - Victorville - Rancho Cucamanga - LA Proposal

Who knows, God and/or health willing, I might be on "Big Bird" to The Meadows" to take a joyride on this, and back.

I've done Vegas in the past for seminars when I was in practice; it's simply now a "been there done that" for me.

Two recent news stories on this:
First, from SFGate, Calif.'s high-speed train Brightline connecting LA, Vegas stays on course

Brightline’s western expansion was also supported by the Federal Railroad Administration when it announced in 2022 that it would give away over $368 million in grants to improve rail infrastructure. The FRA is currently coordinating with Brightline to comply with environmental and safety requirements.

“Similar to Brightline’s efforts with initiating passenger rail service in Florida, Brightline West will undergo a rigorous regulatory review process to ensure compliance with FRA regulations and will need to receive approval prior to commencing revenue service,” the Federal Railroad Administration told SFGATE in a statement. For the past three years, Brightline has secured funding and a successful agreement with the High-Speed Rail Labor Coalition, composed of 13 rail unions representing more than 160,000 freight, regional, commuter and passenger railroad workers.

“It put us in a position where we are ready to break ground,” Porritt said. “We have secured 100% of our station lands and rights of way. We have cleared all of our environmental permitting for both phases for what was originally there with Victorville and then extending it. And then we have put in place agreements with building trades and labor unions to not only build the system, but operate and maintain it once we are operational.”

The project is waiting to hear back from the FRA about a $3.75 billion grant, the Nevada Department of Transportation told SFGATE.

Brightline hopes to break ground before the end of 2023. If the project remains on schedule, it will have ridership by the end of 2027.

(Emphasis added)

Second, from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and following up on a tease from the SFGate article:
Source: Vegas-to-LA rail project lands $3B in federal funds

Brightline West has been awarded $3 billion in federal funds to go toward its planned $12 billion Las Vegas-to-Los Angeles high-speed rail system.

It is expected that President Joe Biden will make an official announcement about the grant award Friday in Las Vegas. Congress has been notified of the grant award, a source told the Las Vegas Review-Journal Tuesday morning. Congress is required to be notified 72 hours ahead of an official grant announcement and the White House has already confirmed Biden is scheduled to be in Las Vegas Friday, which fits into that timeline.

The $3B is the clincher. Now the shovels have to hit the dirt.

Go car-free, care-free | Brightline West

Checking on FAQ | Brightline West they plan to go
Rancho Cucamonga - 39 mi - Hesperia - 11 mi - Apple Valley - 190 mi - Las Vegas

But Hesperia and Apple Valley are off I-15, and Project Overview | Brightline West shows a single station in Victor Valley. A route entirely in I-15 with its Las Vegas end "on the south end of the iconic Las Vegas Strip" is:
Rancho Cucamonga (I-15 & Metrolink line) - 41 mi - Victorville (I-15 & D St.) - 179 mi - Las Vegas (I-15 & Mandalay Bay Rd.)

Total length: 220 mi - stated as 218 mi, very close, with 96% in the median of I-15.

From the overview, "The project is near shovel-ready and expected to break ground in early 2024."

From the FAQ on how to connect to LA Union Station,
"Our station in Rancho Cucamonga will be located directly next to the existing Metrolink station, allowing for a seamless link to Metrolink's regional service." a station that is nearly a mile west of I-15.

RC is on the San Bernardino Line, and the LAUC - RC scheduled time is around 1h 15m.

What goes to LAUS (or does not go there)
Metrorail A-Blue, B-Red, D-Purple, E-Gold, (C-Green, K-Pink)
Metrolink Ventura County, Antelope Valley, San Bernardino, Riverside, 91 / Perris Valley, Orange County, (IEOC, Arrow Service)

Joe was in The Meadows yesterday and he was talkin' trains

Fair Use:

Train enthusiast Joe Biden unveiled a $8.2 billion plan Friday to get America's creaking rail network back on track, including its first ever high-speed link between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Slow, infrequent and often non-existent, trains have long been the poor relation of cars and planes in the United States.

But the US president, who used the train between his Delaware home and Washington so much as a US senator that he was nicknamed "Amtrak Joe," visited Las Vegas to announce a series of federally funded rail upgrades.

While I endeavor to report using nationally recognized news sources, this staff reported article from a regional Mississippi newspaper appears to "stick to the rails" more than others I reviewed. For example, the coverage in The Times was more interested in that Joe mentioned POTUS45 by name - apparently something he rarely does in public.

President Biden Announces $8.2 Billion in New Grants for High-Speed Rail and Pipeline of Projects Nationwide | US Department of Transportation notes PowerPoint Presentation - FY22-23 Fed-State (National) Project Fact Sheets_final_r2.pdf

The Brightline West map in it shows stops
Rancho Cucamonga - Hesperia - Victor Valley - Las Vegas

I find it odd that there are two stops that are relatively close to each other on the north side of Cajon Pass: Hesperia and Victor Valley (Victorville).

Hesperia will have "select southbound morning and northbound evening weekday trains" (i.e., its a commuter station) while Victor Valley is expected to eventually have some services to Rancho Cucamonga and some services to Palmdale (with connections to CHSR to San Francisco and Sacramento).

Whether Brightline is successful at opening day plus one year depends on three things…

First, cost of a ticket on Brightline compared to Southwest et Al or the run up I-15.

Second, frequency. LA International, Burbank, Ontario, John Wayne and Long Beach have ***88*** combined flights daily to Las Vegas, just from Southwest. How many passengers does Brightline have to take from airlines and cars to make a profit after fixed costs?

Third, convenience. The LA megalopolis is covered by local airports. Brightline needs reliable and fast connections across the region.

lpetrich wrote: ↑Sat Dec 09, 2023 5:16 am But Hesperia and Apple Valley are off I-15, and Project Overview | Brightline West shows a single station in Victor Valley. A route entirely in I-15 with its Las Vegas end "on the south end of the iconic Las Vegas Strip" is:
Rancho Cucamonga (I-15 & Metrolink line) - 41 mi - Victorville (I-15 & D St.) - 179 mi - Las Vegas (I-15 & Mandalay Bay Rd.)

I-15 actually does cut through a corner of Hisperia, and runs along the border of Apple Valley. It definitely doesn't go through the heart of either community, but it does technically serve both of them, so it's definitely possible to site stations in those locations without leaving the I-15 ROW.

What goes to LAUS (or does not go there)
Metrorail A-Blue, B-Red, D-Purple, E-Gold, (C-Green, K-Pink)
Metrolink Ventura County, Antelope Valley, San Bernardino, Riverside, 91 / Perris Valley, Orange County, (IEOC, Arrow Service)

Technically speaking, the E-Line only goes near LAUS. Little Tokyo/Arts District is the nearest that it gets. After the Downtown Connector opened, the routing became A (Long Beach to Azusa) and E (Santa Monica to East L.A.). The former Gold Line no longer exists, as the two sections were subsumed.

If Roaming Railfan is correct, per his video, the Hesperia station will be in the median at Exit 141 (Joshua St.), and the Apple Valley (not specifically Victorville) station will be at Exit 161 at Dale Evans Boulevard (he doesn't give the exit number in the video, but it's easy to figure out from the overhead shot). He also says that the Hesperia station was added specifically as part of the deal to get into Cucamonga.

Travel times from LAUS to RC might be an hour-plus, and I recognize that that's the common transfer point for all their lines, but there are an awful lot of people just on the Inland Empire line, as well as on the branch that goes into San Bernadino from the south, and i don't see this as a business-travel, city-center to city-center operation, so the downtown station timing might not be as important.

markhb wrote: ↑Tue Dec 12, 2023 12:28 pm … and i don't see this as a business-travel, city-center to city-center operation, so the downtown station timing might not be as important.

No, but all those leisure travellers who might take this live in the San Fernando Valley, the Santa Monica-Marina Del Rey coastal plain, Long Beach, Orange County, Riverside, San Bernardino,…

If it’s not convenient for them, will they change from their existing mode of transport?

Convenience, frequency and price will be deciding factors for Mr and Mrs Angeleno.

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