Florida’s Brightline announced Tuesday that it intends to compete in the heavily traveled Las Vegas-Los Angeles Basin market by acquiring XpressWest.Once upon a time, Union Pacific had properties, including a casino hotel, trackside, but the management thought better about running passenger trains across the desert.
That company won the right from the Nevada High Speed Rail Authority in 2015 to build a 220-mile route adjacent to Interstate 15 from Las Vegas to Victorville, Calif. A total of 185 miles will be built as a sealed corridor with no at-grade road or pedestrian crossings.
Reflecting the real estate business model Brightline has employed in its Miami-West Palm Beach, Fla., corridor, the company is acquiring 38 acres of land on the Las Vegas Strip for construction of a station and mixed-use development.
Their challenge is going to be in getting from Victorville, where the relatively easy construction across desert ends, over the mountains surrounding Los Angeles.
The XpressWest deal will potentially enable Brightline to link one of the most traveled routes in the country, connecting more than 22 million people living in Southern California with Las Vegas, one of the most visited cities in the U.S. Brightline quoted ridership studies as finding travelers make more than 50 million annual trips between Las Vegas and Southern California. Today those travelers are limited to traveling by air or highway; Brightline expects to make the trip in less than two hours.Perhaps their ultimate plan is to connect, or to operate over, the extensive Regional Rail network California's rulers have on their wish list. Their hope, though, is to provide comfortable trains over distances that are time-competitive with the airlines and a pain to drive. "‘Brightline is changing transportation in our country by connecting heavily trafficked corridors that are too long to drive and too short to fly’, said Wes Edens, co-founder and co-chief executive officer of Fortress Investment Group. ‘Our experience in Florida is proving that private-sector investment has a meaningful role to play in developing transportation infrastructure.’"
High speed rail is also expected to benefit from the move of the NFL’s Oakland Raiders to las Vegas in 2020.
As a result of the acquisition, Brightline will take over the development, construction and operation of the project and work with federal and local transportation officials to connect Las Vegas with Victorville, Calif., 200 miles away, with future plans to expand into the Los Angeles area.
The first phase of the corridor is expected to be built on a right of way within and adjacent to Interstate 15, traversing 185 miles with no at-grade or pedestrian crossings. Construction is expected to begin in 2019 and Brightline is planning to begin initial service in 2022.
We'll be keeping track.
2 comments:
Pretty gutsy on the part of Fortress to be doing this.
Yes, and the reaction of Union Pacific will be interesting. Will they want to cooperate so as to move their container and autorack trains more quickly and get some additional freight capacity on their own tracks, or will they be a dog in the manger with Cajon Pass being the manger?
Post a Comment