Construction of Brightline West, the first private bullet train in the US, has already begun construction. It will link Las Vegas with Southern California.
Wes Edensbillionaire co-founder of Fortress Investment Grouptogether with the Secretary of Transportation of the United States, Pete Buttgiegthey held a party to celebrate the Brightline West construction beginsthe country’s first private bullet train, which It will link Las Vegas with Southern California.
The project was agreed to be carried out three years ago, however, it was delayed due to the pandemic and environmental approvals. Now, construction will be advanced and will be launched in time for passengers to cross the desert at 320 kilometers per hour from Sin City to Southern California.
The construction of the bullet train in Las Vegas
bullet train las vegas.jpg
The project of US$12,000 million of high-speed rail seeks to be built on time and on budget. As Edens and Buttigieg told Forbes, this may be possible. “The schedule is realistic and achievable,” said the billionaire.
Furthermore, he indicated that “the impact of this will be durable and prodigious. And I want it to be successful because I want it to happen to the next one and the next one and the next one.”
For his part, the Secretary of Transportation mentioned the benefits of building the bullet train: “I think that when this project is finished vto open the floodgates of American expectations around high-speed rail.” And he added: “This is important because it establishes that it can be done here (in Las Vegas) and that can be done here in the United States of America.
Bullet train in Las Vegas: the numbers that await
Brightline, which also operates a railroad in Florida between Orlando and Miamiwait 11 million passengers use the electric train one way per year. This will reduce the travel time between both states of five hours to three.
With respect to the environment, the company intends to carry out trips with lower carbon emissions since it is electric. They even estimate that it will reduce about 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide because 3 million car trips will be eliminated.
As for jobs, the company expects more than 10,000 workers to build the system and then create at least 1,000 permanent jobs cwhen it is in operation.
Edens’ other projects
Among the billionaire’s possible future projects are “the texas triangle“: from Dallas to Houston, from Houston to San Antonio and Austin; from Portland to Seattle; from Atlanta to Charlotte; and cities in the Midwest, such as Cleveland and Columbus.
“We’re so focused on this right now that we didn’t pick the next one,” he said. And I add: “I think there could easily be a handful of these who become real projects in the next 12 to 24 months“.
Source: Ambito
