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

  • This is a forum for all operations, both current and planned, of Brightline, formerly All Aboard Florida and Virgin Trains USA:
    Websites: Current Brightline
    Virgin USA
    Virgin UK
This is a forum for all operations, both current and planned, of Brightline, formerly All Aboard Florida and Virgin Trains USA:
Websites: Current Brightline
Virgin USA
Virgin UK

Moderator: CRail

 #1543186  by gokeefe
 
And just like that ... Suddenly America has a really serious private passenger rail operator again ... See what happened? If you blinked you missed it. They would have been laughed right out of the penny slots in Reno only 10 years ago if they had said "we will operate a high speed passenger rail service from California to the new NFL stadium in Las Vegas".

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 #1543187  by Jadebenn
 
gokeefe wrote: Mon May 18, 2020 10:31 pm And just like that ... Suddenly America has a really serious private passenger rail operator again ... See what happened? If you blinked you missed it. They would have been laughed right out of the penny slots in Reno only 10 years ago if they had said "we will operate a high speed passenger rail service from California to the new NFL stadium in Las Vegas".
I'm really interested to see how they interact with the Texas Central project. One of the VTUSA people made some statements that strongly implied they would've jumped all over the DAL-HOU corridor if someone else hadn't nabbed it first.
 #1546826  by Pensyfan19
 
Virgin Trains USA just reached an agreement for the I-15 right of way for the route.

https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2 ... along-i-15
The California Department of Transportation and Xpress West, the Virgin Trains USA/Brightline subsidiary planning to build a high speed rail line between Southern California and Las Vegas, Nev., have reached agreement on a lease allowing the rail line to build in state-owned right-of-way along Interstate 15 east of Apple Valley, Calif., near Victorville. Approximately 135 miles of the planned 170-mile high speed route will be in California. Caltrans Director Toks Omishakin called the agreement “a major milestone” in a press release, while Sarah Watterson, chief development officer for XpressWest, said, “At every stage of this project we have received tremendous support from California, which recognizes the need for car-free, emission-free transportation options.”
 #1546907  by Pensyfan19
 
Rockingham Racer wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 6:11 am Good. But they really need to terminate a lot closer to L.A.
I think they are eventually going to expand to LA Union Station a few years after the initial route opened.
 #1546912  by Gilbert B Norman
 
Mr. Penney, that is simply being too logical. However, whonis to ssy Downtown LA is most passenger's final destination?

Further, why burn up Virgin/Brightline's gas to haul a train over the San Gabriels, when there are other suckers willing to burn up theirs to their actual destination of, say, Rancho Cucamonga?
 #1547045  by dgvrengineer
 
Just saw this article.
https://www.railjournal.com/passenger/h ... Jb5PH8SARg
Fair Use quote:Virgin Trains USA and the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to undertake a study into extending the 270km line along Interstate 15 through the Cajon Pass into Rancho Cucamonga, which is situated around 55km southwest of Victorville and 65km east of central Los Angeles.
A future extension to Los Angeles through Palmdale and Rancho Cucamonga will provide Southern California residents full access to our high-speed rail service to Las Vegas. Greater connectivity and mobility brings with it economic opportunities, jobs and positive environmental benefits.
 #1547055  by njtmnrrbuff
 
The bottom line is that the VirginTrainsUSA route from Las Vegas should be extended to Downtown LA and the route should be time competitive with driving as much as possible. People will not want to drive from LA to Victorville just to board the train. It might be a good starting point if you live at the base of the Mojave Desert near the top of Cajon Pass in towns like Hesperia and of course Victorville. I could see people who live in Redlands driving up through the pass to get the train in Victorville when heading to Las Vegas. I don't think it's a good idea to have the same route serve both Palmdale and Rancho Cucamonga because it would take too long with the travel times. I could maybe see two routes where you have one only serving Rancho Cucamonga and then heading through the pass while the Palmdale route would turn east after Palmdale Station running along the south end of the Mojave Desert. Both sections of the route would merge at the top of Cajon Pass.
 #1547095  by nctrains
 
I'm interested in the idea to get through the Cajon Pass since it seemed to be infeasible when Desert Xpress / Xpress West was crafting their original designs.

That being said, I think access to the Inland Empire is an over-looked idea. Back in the Desert Xpress days, some of the original team stated that the Inland Empire comprised the majority of visitors from Southern California. Also, I'm sure Brightline is enticed by the possibility of linking with an airport and provide connection services to Vegas in the same way that they are pitching to airlines at the Orlando airport for access to South Florida.
 #1547104  by Gilbert B Norman
 
Rancho Cucamonga; did I ever walk into that one!!! :-D :-D

All I knew about the place is that it's on the SP and that the Sunset Limited passes through it at some "un-people hour" six times a week - if on time.

I guess I also knew it was quite near ONT - Ontario International - an airport that sees more of media production crews than passengers.

But until I read it here, I had no idea that Virgin/Brightline was considering it as a terminus for the proposed Las Vegas service.
 #1547210  by David Benton
 
Seems to be a case of do you aim for high speed rail to a single L.A destination, or terminate the HSR at Victorville , and build / link to many higher speed rail links to several destinations in the basin / outlying areas.
 #1548429  by Jeff Smith
 
https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-new ... p-forward/
Financing for DesertXpress line from Las Vegas to Victorville takes step forward

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Financing for a high-speed train between Las Vegas and Southern California took another step forward on Tuesday.

The commission voted 7-0 today to approve the findings made by the Nevada Department of Business and Industry related to the financing of the project being proposed by DesertXpress Enterprises, according to a county spokesman.
...
DesertXpress is expected to start construction next year on a track that could take passengers from Las Vegas to Victorville in just 90 minutes. In March, the county approved permits for the construction of a station near the Las Vegas Strip.
...
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