But we also need to vastly restructure how local transportation works in cities where intercity rail stations are located, which we will definitely need the government's help for. If this isn't done, lots of people will need to drive to the station, park, ride, then rent a new car to get around, especially in these desert cities where it's too hot to walk. Such a connondrum will make some believe it would just be more cost effective to drive. Las Vegas Monorail and LA Metro need to connect to the Brightline West stations, which we need government help with.
@@alexismiller288 That is why this Vegas to LA will never happen. If Brightline builds a new HSR track from Vegas to Victorville, that's the easy much less expensive part. Then they will beg to get PUBLIC TAX MONEY to help build the much more expensive and technically difficult section through the SoCal mountains to LA. Not going to happen. That is why this line has been proposed numerous times for decades by a variety of private companies and nothing ever happens. The only way for this to happen is to have both Nevada and California build this line together to share the cost and possible include private enterprise too for long term maintenance and operation.
@@theexmann As far as tackling the mountains? It isn't just the Cajon pass - which, by the way, has already been tackled by the Santa Fe, Union Pacific and Southern Pacific (now the BNSF and UP). It's also the range of higher mountain range between Barstow and Primm (the state line). It might be far less expensive to purchase rights to existing rights of way and rehabbing those rights of way to meet the standards of high speed rail. Given the proposed route, the San Bernardino Range is the only range of mountains between Victorville and Los Angeles - and they will use the Cajon Pass to tackle that.. The rest can follow existing passes (especially the Santa Ana pass between Riverside and Fullerton) And to be frank...I don't see the governments of Nevada and California agreeing on the color of shite - let alone cooperating on building this. The egos of the politicians involved is enough of an obstacle to construction. Each political "leader" will want to claim exclusive credit for this. This will even place more pressure on Brightline, as California has a long history of dislike or out-and-out hatred of any mass transport project that they themselves do not control. And then there will be the endless lawsuits by the environmental lobby, which is extremely "friendly" with California's current government. Using existing California law, these "lobbyists" can and will sue to halt construction - and if not win keep this bottled up in court for decades. Bottom line...don't look for this to complete - or to even break ground and start construction - in your lifetime or mine.
@@antonbruce1241 I agree with a lot of what you say. There have been other proposals for a HSR line from LA to Vegas and they have never amounted to much so I don't expect this to go anywhere either. Also, Amtrak used to have service between LA and Vegas years ago and they have announced that they plan to open up that service again with the help of Biden's infrastructure project. If that happens, that will be another reason why a HSR will not get done even if the regular train service take much longer because it will be up and running relatively quickly and the tickets would be cheaper, I'm sure. For a true HSR route through the Cajon Pass they would need to tunnel through and not use the winding very slow freight line that is currently available. It would add significant time to the trip and somewhat negates the point of HSR. However, that is the track Amtrak would use if they restart the LA to Vegas service. The HSR is not going to happen anytime soon though I hope Amtrak does restart the service from LA Union Station to Vegas. The plan is to have two stations. One at the strip and another in downtown Vegas. The previous service only had a station at downtown Vegas.
@@theexmann I don't disagree with you, but I do have one thing to add: tunneling through that portion of the San Bernardino range will be difficult at best. They call it the high desert because it IS at altitude, and is basically a plateau. The high desert leading up to the southbound side (that would be Victorville, then going south) of the pass is flat, and then rather suddenly drops off at the mountain range. Tunneling might just be useless at that point. If you ever drive the I-15 south from Las Vegas past Victorville, you would see what I'm talking about. And on ti\op of that, there is the steepness of the grade - in some sections more than 5%, which is tough enough for vehicles - damned near impossible for rail. The way that the three railroads did what they did is pretty much the only way to get through the pass.
Great job on narration, you make some great points on how the best option would be to build the line along or next to the highways with the open land, cheaper costs. The one thing that would really sell this high speed line between LA and Vegas would be Brightlines own high speed rail system.. Meaning no other railroads to interrupt their service such as freights or other Amtrak trains. If their line was solely dedicated to just Brightline trains, speeds could be increased, hell they could probably even advertise a 2.5 hour trip or less between Vegas and LA depending on how they build the high speed rail system. I'd be curious if they could actually travel faster than the Acela at some areas due to such a baron landscape especially leaving Vegas before they hit the mountains where they will either need to add some curves or tunnels or what not. This will be an interesting project to follow for sure.
I think it would be a smart idea if they build their own tracks and lease it out to Amtrak just to squeeze some out some more government funding. Not only would they get more praise from the public but also would earn a little extra cash from Amtrak. After all, privatized freight companies do it all the time, why can’t Brightline West.
@@banksrail That's a stupid idea. True HSR needs a dedicated track. There already exists a track used by freight along the 15 highway all the way to Vegas from LA. In fact, it used to be used exactly as you describe. It was a shared track between passenger and freight. As this video indicates, Amtrak ended the passenger service years ago, but they recently announced that they plan to restart it based on the new proposed funding from the Biden administration. If this does happen, that will put an end to this Brightline project because even thought the Amtrak service won't be HSR, it will be a true connection from LA Union Station to Vegas. The Brightline project only goes to Victorville initially and they have no idea when the more difficult connection to LA will ever happen.
@@theexmann That's not true. HSR is better with dedicated tracks, sure. But as you see in France and Germany it is absolutely not a must to have a completely segregated system like in Japan. You can get by with partial separation on the higher speed sections. And given that we have an acute shortage of fast rail corridors in this country it would be a complete waste not to run complimentary fast rail services if such a corridor is built. After all if the state is taking such a massive gamble with some newbie rail startup, why not at least maximize the potential benefits if things go well? Also, Amtrak's new Siemens Chargers can go 125mph without breaking a sweat. Given the complicated terrain on this route and the fact that it has to follow a less-than optimal highway ROW with steep turns and grades, the Brightline trains will rarely go over 125mph anyway. You could easily run Brightline as the express and Amtrak as the slower all-stops service. Sure the Brightline service will become ever-so-slightly slower, but you could get a lot more people on the route traveling by train, and on a distance this short the difference will be mere minutes.
@@TohaBgood2 I mostly agree with you. When I refer to a completely grade separated system I mean the sections of the route that are for the highest speeds. With CAHSR that is the case. But it will share tracks the closer it gets to the big train stations in LA and SF, and that's fine because it will have to travel at slower speeds anyway at that point. But then again slower speeds is relative because the CAHSR trainsets would probably still go around 100-150mph on those shared tracks for a good stretch. Yes, the new Amtrak trainsets will be capable of higher speeds, but much of the current tracks will first need to be upgraded. The new Biden infrastructure bill includes a good amount of funds to do just that in the NE corridor. That's very good news. I just hope CAHSR gets some love too from these new federal funding monies.
Here in europe every operator can use the lines if they pay for it so amtrak if they want to be an competitor to Brightline they could do that but because Brightline actually owns the line they will not be able
Omg, hello Damitrius from the HSARC(sorry if I spelled your name wrong), I'm your biggest fan, I love your videos, I keep waiting everyday for a new one to come. While I do love Amtrak, Brightline takes the cake when it comes to passenger rail travel here in the US, I agree with you that it's about time the US advances and joins with the High Speed Rail club. With Brightline and the Avelia Liberty being phase 1 for High Speed Rail travel in the US, I can't wait for the Expresswest Brightline project, the California High Speed Rail and other High Speed projects to come soon, and who knows, maybe we'll help Canada and Via Rail too, lol, I may also ride on board with you on high speed trains sometime;) keep up with the good work
CAHSR Authority is plenty serious. Desert is cheap. A tunnel under San Francisco is not. Yes Briteline will be finished first. But 5,000 people are hard at work building CAHSR. 🚄🌴🌞
@@mattwest99 I doubt Brightline will EVER build a true HSR line between Vegas and LA. They haven't built one yet anywhere in the USA and that includes Florida.
@@djm5687 And shittier. All this private sector fetishism is really weird to me. You do understand that the government in the US has literally never had any staff that actually builds anything. All the "government" infrastructure you see is always built by private companies in this country. Literally all! So when you say that the government builds slower and more expensively what you are saying is actually that those private companies build slower and more expensively. Could it be that the government just has higher standards and can't skirt regulations like private contractors always do? FYI, I've worked in construction. I have seen what private builders do. If they could get away with it they'd build bridges out of bamboo and sand mixed with spit. Some actually do that and try to get away with it! Construction is literally the worst example imaginable for private market superiority. Just ask Joe Rogan.
The reason the Desert Wind took SEVEN HOURS to get between LA and Las Vegas was the stops. UIt made stops in Fullerton, Riverside, San Bernardino, Victorville and Barstow. Too darn many stops. Made even more crazy by the fact that S.B and Victorville are less than 25 miles apart.
I hear that the Biden infrastructure money will bring back this route for Amtrak. I wonder what the runtime would be for an express train on that route, especially with the new Amtrak's Chargers which accelerate faster and can go 125mph. I'm assuming this is all 79mph max track mostly on that route though.
@@TohaBgood2 Amtrak does not show that route opening until 2025 - four years hence. And frankly, I think Brightline is going to be stalled by the government in favor of Amtrak. Brightline will end up spending a ton of cash....for nothing. That track, unless Amtrak re-works the trakage, is over 100 years old and simply can't handle properly those speeds. And they'd also have to re-work a LOT of trackage (or lay new track on new roadbed) through the Cajon Pass. Good luck with that, as the BNSF and UP own all the rights through the pass. And finally - it won't be an "express". Almost every city on the proposed route will want a stop, and will sue to get one. It will end up being less expensive in both time AND money to drive the 5 1/2 hours from L.A. to Vegas.
@@antonbruce1241 brightline already secured the fund, they invest the most money themselves, construction will start early mid 2024, they already hired union labor workforce to start. it is expected to be operational before 2028. i am sorry but it is happening whatever people say :))
@@lexburen5932 Well, if the various governments along the route cooperate, that you'd be not only correct, but I'll join you in standing in line for a ticket. And don't be sorry - if Brightline can get this going, I'll be one of the first to cheer them on. I do believe that the cooperation I hope will happen - won't happen. I've lived in California far too long to believe that the cities along the route (cities such as San Bernardino, Barstow, Baker and Primm, NV) won't sue to get a stop in their cities. And just out of curiosity...where will Brightline start their construction? Locally, I see Cucamonga (more correctly, Rancho Cucamonga) is the starting point here in So Cal. That would put the So Cal terminus right where MetroRail has a stop.
Yeah, this will be mostly built in California and the bulk of the passengers will be Californian. But hopefully once the line is in operation, Nevadans will also get a taste for taking no-stress trips to LA to catch a game or have brunch in West Hollywood and see the light on fast trains and their benefits.
i’m gonna assume that there hasn’t been too much progress because they started building in Las Vegas... *...because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas*
Don't know where you got the idea that Brightline tends to stay on schedule on it's construction projects. That has been far from the case in Florida. I'm not opposed to Brightline. I think it's great, and I'm looking forward to it reaching Orlando. But their service start date has been pushed back many times over the years.
@@theexmann When it opens (now scheduled for 2023), the last 25 miles from Cocoa to Orlando is planned to run at 125mph, which would be HSR by some definitions, but not all definitions.
@@theexmann That wouldn't sit very well, considering that Brightline utilizes some of the tracks used by FEC, it helps to reduce construction costs as they aren't having to pay as much for RoW or land acquisition.
@@boarini2003 Naa, we in the Uk are light years behind you, can't have double deckers with so many low old bridges, speed limited to 125 mph with ancient tracks, yes rest of Europe years ahead
Right here on TH-cam you can see a 1950's TV commercial advertising daily Union Pacific passenger trains between Las Vegas and Los Angeles with a round trip cost of $17.99. And it even includes a buffet meal in the dining car. The TV commercial shows a film of cars backed up on the highway while the TV narrator proclaims how nice it would be to get out of the traffic on to a Union Pacific train. Back in the 1960's Union Pacific ran four trains daily in each direction between Los Angeles Union Station and Las Vegas with three of those trains continuing on to points East such as Kansas City and Chicago. Like Brightline, Union Pacific passenger trains had a bright yellow color scheme complete with dining cars, sleepers and a bar lounge. We would leave LA Union Station, have dinner in the dining car, then go to the bar lounge before arriving in Las Vegas. The Union Pacific rail station in Las Vegas was brightly lit like the strip and was only a few blocks from the main Las Vegas strip. We did not appreciate what we had so we lost all of those wonderful trains and will never get them back. Once you lose them they are gone....forever. Forget about future train service between LA and Las Vegas. It is gone forever. Brightline is successful between Miami and Orlando because they are building it on land and track that have already existed for a train that was discontinued 1968. Even some of the stations still exist but are being refurbished.
Is this new info? I thought Brightline to Vegas was dead months ago. Please give us an update. It would be fantastic if this project was back on track. Give us details on what has changed and what hurdles remain.
Nothing has changed. Nothing has happened. For now, it's mostly dead. Also, Amtrak has already announced that they are planning on restarting their Vegas to LA line again with the new funding proposed by the Biden administration. It won't be HSR but it will be a true city to city connection from LA to Vegas and not some dumb ass Vegas to Victorville HSR line. No one in LA is going to drive or take a bus to Victorville to use a HSR. The worst part of the drive from LA to Vegas is exactly from LA to Victorville.
@@theexmann did you miss the part where it was supposed to be Las Vegas-Victorville-LA that doesn’t mean that you need to drive to Victorville it’s a 3 station trip.
@@skygge1006 The connection from Victorville to LA is technically the second phase sometime in the future. What has been actually proposed is a terminus in Victorville. The future connection to LA is not confirmed. I've read that if this project does get built with Victorville as the terminus, they would have a bus to connect LA to Victorville. That is ridiculous and add a significant amount of time to the trip. The worst part of driving to Vegas from LA is the section from LA to Victorville. Again, this will never be effective with a Victorville terminus. However, I understand why they are doing it that way. It's because of the huge costs in building HSR route across the Cajon Pass and mountain range to get to either LA or Anaheim. There is a bright spot though. I also read something about CAHSR in talks with this Vegas HSR line so they might have a connection in Bakersfield. If that is the case, that would solve a huge problem in getting to LA. I hope that does happen. It would benefit both CAHSR and the Brightline West project.
@@theexmann From what I read the connection is supposed to be in Palmdale connecting to the future CAHSR station. but then Brightline proposed the CA station to be in Rancho Cucamonga Metrolink station first. Then phase two towards Palmdale. I suspect building a connection directly into the city would be too costly for Brightline because they are a profit-driven company. Quite honestly there are so many gimmicks to private train companies I am skeptical of their future and maintaining service. Brightline had to shut down once because of Covid. It looks to be the Vegas HSR is dependent on the progress of the CAHSR. Which to me has much more potential. I use to think poorly about the CAHSR but now the planning looks more impressive.
@@xxPlaceboxx If both projects can work together so that both HSR lines have a direct shared connection in SoCal somewhere, that would be a game changer mostly for the Brightline project, but it would also extend the capability of the CAHSR to a neighboring state. You can have passengers from SF get to Vegas with just one transfer from one HSR train to another or vice versa.
Unfortunately, it looks like Brightline west is falling into the same pattern of the previous two ventures. Who knows when it'll get built now. And you talk about the "dreaded California high speed railway" but they're actually the only true high speed railway that's being built. Brightline is now delayed another year and more than likely won't happen since this specific railway has a track record of not being built.
Well, when they went into the market to get money at the same time it was the election and the stock market was kinda wonky. So they said they are going to return to the market in 2021 we actually should here some news very soon about project. Especially after the new secretary of transportation proposes high speed rail for America I think after that it may get investors excited again and they may start to invest so we just have to see
Be better to have a high speed Las Vegas train station behind the Aria, Bellagio, Caesar Palace... The Rio is directly next to existing train tracks(behind Caesar’s Palace separated by I-15). They are thinking about renovating the Rio? There is a big Rio (mostly unused) parking lot next to the tracks. Build a station there, have some sort of underground/overhead connection, subway, monorail and walkway under or over the 15 to Caesars, Bellagio, Aria .. The Strip. Maybe connect the existing monorail that connects The Bellagio to the Aria with the high speed train station/Rio Hotel and Casino. Get people excited the moment they get off the train (not so much worried about transportation) at the heart and soul of Vegas. A Victorville station is ridiculous. I do the trip from Long Beach to Vegas often. Silly to go to Victorville. I take Amtrak to Santa Barbara and San Diego. It’s fun. Getting a connection to Victorville would not be so much fun. Amtrak has a new and perfect train station in Anaheim or ARTIC. It’s glitzy Vegas style. Get you in the mood for Las Vegas seeing the station a mile away. I think the new train station in Anaheim would be the perfect place to leave for Vegas. Or those living in Vegas to go to the LA area or with their kids a day at Disneyland, walk to a game at Angels Stadium, walk to the Honda Center for a concert or hockey or go to the beach...
The Victorville terminus is the main problem with this project and why it will never happen. You know why they end it in Victorville, right? It's cost. Building anything beyond the Cajon Pass is just too expensive. However, if they did, connecting it to ARTIC is not a bad idea since that station was also built to eventually have HSR service.
@@theexmann Yeah I know. I think I first read about the Arctic station for a high speed train terminus in the late 80s. I saw the plans of what it now appears way back then, late 80s early 90s
@@ELMENDORFX True. Considering the huge struggle it's been for CAHSR to build the line from LA to SF, maybe they should have proposed a much smaller line to start with since the LA to SF line would be at least 400 miles. Which is on the higher end of HSR line lengths. A line from Los Angeles to San Diego with a stop at ARTIC might have been better. It could have served as a great showcase for building the following sections going North to SF, and they could have learned what and what not to do on the new sections.
@@theexmann Could be, but then they would have to build in cities and that area on the route is literally the most NIMBY place on Earth. I think the project could have died before even starting if they tried to build between LA and SD first. Also, the rest of the state would have liked a word or two with CHSR if they started by favoring SoCal before the Bay or the Central Valley. Politically, the easiest way to start building was in the Valley, because this way it was seen as a jobs program for an economically depressed area. And who could be against jobs, eh?
What happened to the old Union Pacific passenger rail station in Las Vegas? I remember back in the 1960's it was brightly lit and was within walking distance of the Las Vegas strip.
@@sygneg7348 None of Brightlines routes are HSR. Their Texas project would be their first attempt at building a true HSR. I wish them luck. The more HSR around the USA, the better.
@@sygneg7348 Umm, that one tiny section, which they haven't even built yet, will max out at a conventional 125mph. That's not HSR by any measure. It's just regular Amtrak service. Come to think of it, isn't Brightline using the exact same Siemens Charger locomotives and cars that Amtrak is getting for their entire fleet? The exact same ones Amtrak has been using for some services for years now? And the same ones VIA rail just ordered? Hmmmm, could it be that Brightline is just a luxury Amtrak service rather than high speed anything? Or is Amtrak now high speed rail too then?
Though they did recently announce plans to offer it again based on the new proposed funding from the federal government. They would need to improve the service though. The trip from Union Station in La to Vegas Strip couldn't take more than 5 hours to be competitive to driving. If you drive from LA to Vegas it take almost 4 hours (at about 75 mph) and a little more than that if you stop and take your time to have a bite to eat. Though it could also take much longer depending on the weather or any kind of car accident or holiday weekend. Problems that a train wouldn't really be negatively affected by.
@@johnburwell6609 Yeah, it depends. But I live close to DTLA so having someone drop me off or take an Uber would be relatively quick especially if I leave Sunday morning which I usually do now to avoid the car traffic, and then return very early to LA a few days later. Don't do the Friday/weekend trips anymore because of the traffic, and mid week in Vegas is less expensive too.
Before Amtrak, Union Pacific ran four daily trains in each direction between Las Vegas and Los Angles Union Station with three of those trains continuing on to Salt Lake City and points East.
Run by adults, you don’t know how true that statement is. They want to move dirt and build. Other projects just want to create departments and talk about processes.
CA HSR has built a lot so far. Check out "The Four Foot" YT channel. He has a 4 part series on the construction progress of the proposed first section. It's a much bigger and complex project than most people realize.
What's up with the obvious bias against government initiated infrastructure projects? Many of our most essential infrastructure projects have been funded and constructed by local, state, and federal governments. It's rich to hear this dude talk crap about government projects and in the same breath compliment private companies who are seeking GOVERNMENT FUNDS to build their 'PRIVATE' rail project. That's hypocrisy. Brightline will never get this built from Vegas to LA, and the privately spearheaded HSR line in Texas will take much longer and cost more than currently being promoted. Just because a private company is at the helm doesn't mean it's automatically better. In fact the Texas line is less than half as long as the CAHSR line and the initial cost estimate is $40 billion. That's not any cheaper than the CAHSR line being built by CA. We've seen myriads of companies go bankrupt. Even in this video it shows how many times private companies have tried and failed to make the LA to Vegas line happen. BTW, the trains connecting our cities are, for the most part, using 50 year old tech. We have an antiquated passenger rail system in the USA. We need to upgrade the entire system and not just add new HSR. What we have now for regular commuter passenger rail service is nowhere good enough by any modern metric. Oh, what Brightline has running in Florida is NOT HSR!
Economically it's hard to imagine that a line between LA area and Vegas would be viable since the ridership would be mostly limited to Friday afternoon/evening and Sunday.
@@theexmann While I agree there's quite a bit of traffic even during the week the bulk of the SoCal to Vegas traffic is generally Friday and Sunday. I use it midweek much more often than Fridays and weekends. Monday through Thursday is typically without delay, at least until you get through Cajon Pass.
@@johnburwell6609 I agree, but the worst traffic from LA to Vegas is always until you get to the Cajon Pass. After that, it's usually relatively good unless there is some kind of accident, and then the whole thing can get screwed up pretty fast. However, this project won't work unless it has a direct HSR connection to SoCal at either LA or Anaheim in order to bypass the traffic along our freeways to the Cajon Pass. If I could take a HSR train from Union Staton or the ARTIC station in Anaheim I would do it all the time. It's easy and cheap enough to get around Vegas without a car now-a-days. When I drive to Vegas, 8/10 I end up not moving my car after I park it.
I really don't like the way people frame this. It almost creates the impression that passenger railroading has any change in #$%# of being directly profitable from use fees/ticket sales. But this is just not true, nor has it ever been. Much like highways and airports and other transoportation infrastructure, passenger railways always make their money from something other than tickets. Why are people so afraid of acknowledging this fact? So what if transportation infrastructure generates its economics benefits from the network effects in adjacent economies rather than directly via tickets? What difference does it make? It's not like those positive economic effects don't exist or are negligible? Sure, the transcontinental railroad was built on massive land giveaways and other subsidies from the government. But look at the benefit we got from that collectively as a nation! It literally propelled us to become the largest and most productive economy in the world for a century! Why not acknowledge the economics of this and use it to our advantage rather than hide our heads in the sand. Look at Hong Kong's rail transportation. One of the best systems in the world because they let it capture land appreciation adjacent to stations. Everybody wins!
people saying this plan will always be "dead" yet clearly brightline has a good track record and seems like they are serious and will complete it some time in the next 5-6 years
Brightline runs a good but slow luxury service back east. It's more like Amtrak+ than French TGV. This project is a whole other deal on so many levels. They have to build brand new track where none ever existed. What they did in Florida was mostly rehabbing an existing freight right of way, which wasn't even in too bad of a condition. They need to built this track in a sometimes tight freeway median. The track needs to be high speed but the geometry of the freeway is just not conducive because it was built to a much different standard in terms of steepness and curves. The track needs to be electrified and the trains need to also be electric, which is again something they haven't done before and have no experience with. I wish them good luck, but they are definitely biting waaaaaaay more than they currently know how to chew.
What is the point of having Brightline without CHSR? Victorville is half way between LA and Vegas. Who will drive to Victorville to catch a train? In LA traffic, getting to Victorville can take longer than driving from Victorville to Vegas! Brightline are only building the cheap and easy part through the desert, leaving all the expensive parts of the route to be built by CHSR. If CHSR is cancelled, there will be no Brightline West and probably no Brightline at all, given how much they have invested in getting this project going.
why a railway in the middle of the highway. seriously. My opinion is to keep railways away from highways and buildt up areas. They should pass through the most beutiful areas that could otherwise be private property owned by wealthy people or something like an ugly big road. Not having a railway next to highway is something that's very normal in EU. This us idea is just weird.
@@theexmann Oh, yeah uhm. Better build a barrier with openings every 1000 feet. Stong enough to not let it go in the road and wide enough for fire and rescue to reach it.
@@TheMrPeteChannel I believe all HSR rail routes in the world have some kind of barriers especially if they are that close to a freeway or highly used road.
@@theexmann Yeah, I think they are required to build a 10ft tall safety wall on both sides for the entire freeway adjacent section, which is most of the route. Kinda sad that you'll have to stare at a concrete wall for the entire 2.5 hours.
@@TohaBgood2 Indeed. If this does get built, it will be interesting to see how they construct those safety barriers. For one, they would need to have some kind of emergency access within them.
Brightline is serious about there projects and not sitting around just talking about what could be for 10 to 20 yrs they are making it happen faster than you think
Just think if Obama hadnt buried us in Afghanistan and the funds diverted to this , it would already be up and running. Or Bush and the trillions spent in Iraq. If either President hadnt wasted our tax dollars , we could have things like this. When are we going to stop the overseas waste.
The maglev era is done. Japan decided it’s too costly and we have more experience with rails. Electric trains don’t pollute if the electricity comes from clean sources
Planes are claustrophobic Covid death traps. Busses are awful transportation for long distances. I would rather drive every time. In fact, I would rather let a hyena chew off one my arms than take a bus. Trains on the other hand :)
This guy is right. That Toyota pickup at 1:33 was super cool.
you had me @3:47, "the entire line...electrified..." 🙌
Keep politicians that love to fly out of the building passenger railroads and America will eventually get high speed railroads.
But we also need to vastly restructure how local transportation works in cities where intercity rail stations are located, which we will definitely need the government's help for. If this isn't done, lots of people will need to drive to the station, park, ride, then rent a new car to get around, especially in these desert cities where it's too hot to walk. Such a connondrum will make some believe it would just be more cost effective to drive. Las Vegas Monorail and LA Metro need to connect to the Brightline West stations, which we need government help with.
@@alexismiller288 That is why this Vegas to LA will never happen. If Brightline builds a new HSR track from Vegas to Victorville, that's the easy much less expensive part. Then they will beg to get PUBLIC TAX MONEY to help build the much more expensive and technically difficult section through the SoCal mountains to LA. Not going to happen. That is why this line has been proposed numerous times for decades by a variety of private companies and nothing ever happens.
The only way for this to happen is to have both Nevada and California build this line together to share the cost and possible include private enterprise too for long term maintenance and operation.
@@theexmann As far as tackling the mountains? It isn't just the Cajon pass - which, by the way, has already been tackled by the Santa Fe, Union Pacific and Southern Pacific (now the BNSF and UP). It's also the range of higher mountain range between Barstow and Primm (the state line). It might be far less expensive to purchase rights to existing rights of way and rehabbing those rights of way to meet the standards of high speed rail.
Given the proposed route, the San Bernardino Range is the only range of mountains between Victorville and Los Angeles - and they will use the Cajon Pass to tackle that.. The rest can follow existing passes (especially the Santa Ana pass between Riverside and Fullerton)
And to be frank...I don't see the governments of Nevada and California agreeing on the color of shite - let alone cooperating on building this. The egos of the politicians involved is enough of an obstacle to construction. Each political "leader" will want to claim exclusive credit for this. This will even place more pressure on Brightline, as California has a long history of dislike or out-and-out hatred of any mass transport project that they themselves do not control.
And then there will be the endless lawsuits by the environmental lobby, which is extremely "friendly" with California's current government. Using existing California law, these "lobbyists" can and will sue to halt construction - and if not win keep this bottled up in court for decades.
Bottom line...don't look for this to complete - or to even break ground and start construction - in your lifetime or mine.
@@antonbruce1241 I agree with a lot of what you say. There have been other proposals for a HSR line from LA to Vegas and they have never amounted to much so I don't expect this to go anywhere either.
Also, Amtrak used to have service between LA and Vegas years ago and they have announced that they plan to open up that service again with the help of Biden's infrastructure project. If that happens, that will be another reason why a HSR will not get done even if the regular train service take much longer because it will be up and running relatively quickly and the tickets would be cheaper, I'm sure.
For a true HSR route through the Cajon Pass they would need to tunnel through and not use the winding very slow freight line that is currently available. It would add significant time to the trip and somewhat negates the point of HSR. However, that is the track Amtrak would use if they restart the LA to Vegas service.
The HSR is not going to happen anytime soon though I hope Amtrak does restart the service from LA Union Station to Vegas. The plan is to have two stations. One at the strip and another in downtown Vegas. The previous service only had a station at downtown Vegas.
@@theexmann I don't disagree with you, but I do have one thing to add: tunneling through that portion of the San Bernardino range will be difficult at best. They call it the high desert because it IS at altitude, and is basically a plateau. The high desert leading up to the southbound side (that would be Victorville, then going south) of the pass is flat, and then rather suddenly drops off at the mountain range. Tunneling might just be useless at that point. If you ever drive the I-15 south from Las Vegas past Victorville, you would see what I'm talking about.
And on ti\op of that, there is the steepness of the grade - in some sections more than 5%, which is tough enough for vehicles - damned near impossible for rail.
The way that the three railroads did what they did is pretty much the only way to get through the pass.
Great job on narration, you make some great points on how the best option would be to build the line along or next to the highways with the open land, cheaper costs. The one thing that would really sell this high speed line between LA and Vegas would be Brightlines own high speed rail system.. Meaning no other railroads to interrupt their service such as freights or other Amtrak trains. If their line was solely dedicated to just Brightline trains, speeds could be increased, hell they could probably even advertise a 2.5 hour trip or less between Vegas and LA depending on how they build the high speed rail system. I'd be curious if they could actually travel faster than the Acela at some areas due to such a baron landscape especially leaving Vegas before they hit the mountains where they will either need to add some curves or tunnels or what not. This will be an interesting project to follow for sure.
I think it would be a smart idea if they build their own tracks and lease it out to Amtrak just to squeeze some out some more government funding. Not only would they get more praise from the public but also would earn a little extra cash from Amtrak. After all, privatized freight companies do it all the time, why can’t Brightline West.
@@banksrail That's a stupid idea. True HSR needs a dedicated track. There already exists a track used by freight along the 15 highway all the way to Vegas from LA. In fact, it used to be used exactly as you describe. It was a shared track between passenger and freight. As this video indicates, Amtrak ended the passenger service years ago, but they recently announced that they plan to restart it based on the new proposed funding from the Biden administration. If this does happen, that will put an end to this Brightline project because even thought the Amtrak service won't be HSR, it will be a true connection from LA Union Station to Vegas. The Brightline project only goes to Victorville initially and they have no idea when the more difficult connection to LA will ever happen.
@@theexmann That's not true. HSR is better with dedicated tracks, sure. But as you see in France and Germany it is absolutely not a must to have a completely segregated system like in Japan. You can get by with partial separation on the higher speed sections. And given that we have an acute shortage of fast rail corridors in this country it would be a complete waste not to run complimentary fast rail services if such a corridor is built. After all if the state is taking such a massive gamble with some newbie rail startup, why not at least maximize the potential benefits if things go well?
Also, Amtrak's new Siemens Chargers can go 125mph without breaking a sweat. Given the complicated terrain on this route and the fact that it has to follow a less-than optimal highway ROW with steep turns and grades, the Brightline trains will rarely go over 125mph anyway. You could easily run Brightline as the express and Amtrak as the slower all-stops service. Sure the Brightline service will become ever-so-slightly slower, but you could get a lot more people on the route traveling by train, and on a distance this short the difference will be mere minutes.
@@TohaBgood2 I mostly agree with you. When I refer to a completely grade separated system I mean the sections of the route that are for the highest speeds. With CAHSR that is the case. But it will share tracks the closer it gets to the big train stations in LA and SF, and that's fine because it will have to travel at slower speeds anyway at that point. But then again slower speeds is relative because the CAHSR trainsets would probably still go around 100-150mph on those shared tracks for a good stretch.
Yes, the new Amtrak trainsets will be capable of higher speeds, but much of the current tracks will first need to be upgraded. The new Biden infrastructure bill includes a good amount of funds to do just that in the NE corridor. That's very good news. I just hope CAHSR gets some love too from these new federal funding monies.
Here in europe every operator can use the lines if they pay for it so amtrak if they want to be an competitor to Brightline they could do that but because Brightline actually owns the line they will not be able
10 to 1 Brightline has a serviceable HST in California first before CaHSR. The men and women who work and Brightline are serious folks!
Omg, hello Damitrius from the HSARC(sorry if I spelled your name wrong), I'm your biggest fan, I love your videos, I keep waiting everyday for a new one to come. While I do love Amtrak, Brightline takes the cake when it comes to passenger rail travel here in the US, I agree with you that it's about time the US advances and joins with the High Speed Rail club. With Brightline and the Avelia Liberty being phase 1 for High Speed Rail travel in the US, I can't wait for the Expresswest Brightline project, the California High Speed Rail and other High Speed projects to come soon, and who knows, maybe we'll help Canada and Via Rail too, lol, I may also ride on board with you on high speed trains sometime;) keep up with the good work
CAHSR Authority is plenty serious. Desert is cheap. A tunnel under San Francisco is not. Yes Briteline will be finished first. But 5,000 people are hard at work building CAHSR. 🚄🌴🌞
@@mattwest99 I doubt Brightline will EVER build a true HSR line between Vegas and LA. They haven't built one yet anywhere in the USA and that includes Florida.
The private sector usually builds things cheaper and quicker than the government.
@@djm5687 And shittier. All this private sector fetishism is really weird to me. You do understand that the government in the US has literally never had any staff that actually builds anything. All the "government" infrastructure you see is always built by private companies in this country. Literally all! So when you say that the government builds slower and more expensively what you are saying is actually that those private companies build slower and more expensively. Could it be that the government just has higher standards and can't skirt regulations like private contractors always do?
FYI, I've worked in construction. I have seen what private builders do. If they could get away with it they'd build bridges out of bamboo and sand mixed with spit. Some actually do that and try to get away with it! Construction is literally the worst example imaginable for private market superiority. Just ask Joe Rogan.
I think from Rancho Cucamonga, the train will most likely share Metrolink’s San Bernardino Line all the way to LA Union Station.
it stops at rancho cucamonga. Then you can hop on the metrolink. future will share will CAHSR
The reason the Desert Wind took SEVEN HOURS to get between LA and Las Vegas was the stops. UIt made stops in Fullerton, Riverside, San Bernardino, Victorville and Barstow. Too darn many stops. Made even more crazy by the fact that S.B and Victorville are less than 25 miles apart.
I hear that the Biden infrastructure money will bring back this route for Amtrak. I wonder what the runtime would be for an express train on that route, especially with the new Amtrak's Chargers which accelerate faster and can go 125mph. I'm assuming this is all 79mph max track mostly on that route though.
@@TohaBgood2 Amtrak does not show that route opening until 2025 - four years hence. And frankly, I think Brightline is going to be stalled by the government in favor of Amtrak. Brightline will end up spending a ton of cash....for nothing.
That track, unless Amtrak re-works the trakage, is over 100 years old and simply can't handle properly those speeds. And they'd also have to re-work a LOT of trackage (or lay new track on new roadbed) through the Cajon Pass. Good luck with that, as the BNSF and UP own all the rights through the pass.
And finally - it won't be an "express". Almost every city on the proposed route will want a stop, and will sue to get one. It will end up being less expensive in both time AND money to drive the 5 1/2 hours from L.A. to Vegas.
@@antonbruce1241 brightline already secured the fund, they invest the most money themselves, construction will start early mid 2024, they already hired union labor workforce to start. it is expected to be operational before 2028. i am sorry but it is happening whatever people say :))
@@lexburen5932 Well, if the various governments along the route cooperate, that you'd be not only correct, but I'll join you in standing in line for a ticket. And don't be sorry - if Brightline can get this going, I'll be one of the first to cheer them on. I do believe that the cooperation I hope will happen - won't happen. I've lived in California far too long to believe that the cities along the route (cities such as San Bernardino, Barstow, Baker and Primm, NV) won't sue to get a stop in their cities.
And just out of curiosity...where will Brightline start their construction? Locally, I see Cucamonga (more correctly, Rancho Cucamonga) is the starting point here in So Cal. That would put the So Cal terminus right where MetroRail has a stop.
it's kind of hard to imagine a high speed line in the west except for california
Yeah, this will be mostly built in California and the bulk of the passengers will be Californian. But hopefully once the line is in operation, Nevadans will also get a taste for taking no-stress trips to LA to catch a game or have brunch in West Hollywood and see the light on fast trains and their benefits.
i’m gonna assume that there hasn’t been too much progress because they started building in Las Vegas...
*...because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas*
It's actually no progress. Nothing has been built. It's still in the planning stages, if that.
Brightline needs to look at Atlanta-GSP-Charlotte
Thank you for making this video!
Don't know where you got the idea that Brightline tends to stay on schedule on it's construction projects. That has been far from the case in Florida.
I'm not opposed to Brightline. I think it's great, and I'm looking forward to it reaching Orlando. But their service start date has been pushed back many times over the years.
You do realize Brightline didn't create the route plan first right?
And, it's not a HSR line either. People need to stop calling the Florida Brightline HSR. It's not by any definition.
@@randomscb-40charger78 Right, which is why it's not a HSR line. They should have built their own true HSR track route.
@@theexmann When it opens (now scheduled for 2023), the last 25 miles from Cocoa to Orlando is planned to run at 125mph, which would be HSR by some definitions, but not all definitions.
@@theexmann That wouldn't sit very well, considering that Brightline utilizes some of the tracks used by FEC, it helps to reduce construction costs as they aren't having to pay as much for RoW or land acquisition.
Brilliant videos, love US trains, greetings from the UK
What do you like about US trains? We're in the Stone Age compared to Europe.
@@boarini2003 Naa, we in the Uk are light years behind you, can't have double deckers with so many low old bridges, speed limited to 125 mph with ancient tracks, yes rest of Europe years ahead
Right here on TH-cam you can see a 1950's TV commercial advertising daily Union Pacific passenger trains between Las Vegas and Los Angeles with a round trip cost of $17.99. And it even includes a buffet meal in the dining car. The TV commercial shows a film of cars backed up on the highway while the TV narrator proclaims how nice it would be to get out of the traffic on to a Union Pacific train. Back in the 1960's Union Pacific ran four trains daily in each direction between Los Angeles Union Station and Las Vegas with three of those trains continuing on to points East such as Kansas City and Chicago. Like Brightline, Union Pacific passenger trains had a bright yellow color scheme complete with dining cars, sleepers and a bar lounge. We would leave LA Union Station, have dinner in the dining car, then go to the bar lounge before arriving in Las Vegas. The Union Pacific rail station in Las Vegas was brightly lit like the strip and was only a few blocks from the main Las Vegas strip. We did not appreciate what we had so we lost all of those wonderful trains and will never get them back. Once you lose them they are gone....forever. Forget about future train service between LA and Las Vegas. It is gone forever. Brightline is successful between Miami and Orlando because they are building it on land and track that have already existed for a train that was discontinued 1968. Even some of the stations still exist but are being refurbished.
Fantastic video my friend 😍😎
Is this new info? I thought Brightline to Vegas was dead months ago. Please give us an update. It would be fantastic if this project was back on track. Give us details on what has changed and what hurdles remain.
Nothing has changed. Nothing has happened. For now, it's mostly dead. Also, Amtrak has already announced that they are planning on restarting their Vegas to LA line again with the new funding proposed by the Biden administration. It won't be HSR but it will be a true city to city connection from LA to Vegas and not some dumb ass Vegas to Victorville HSR line. No one in LA is going to drive or take a bus to Victorville to use a HSR. The worst part of the drive from LA to Vegas is exactly from LA to Victorville.
@@theexmann did you miss the part where it was supposed to be Las Vegas-Victorville-LA that doesn’t mean that you need to drive to Victorville it’s a 3 station trip.
@@skygge1006 The connection from Victorville to LA is technically the second phase sometime in the future. What has been actually proposed is a terminus in Victorville. The future connection to LA is not confirmed. I've read that if this project does get built with Victorville as the terminus, they would have a bus to connect LA to Victorville. That is ridiculous and add a significant amount of time to the trip. The worst part of driving to Vegas from LA is the section from LA to Victorville. Again, this will never be effective with a Victorville terminus. However, I understand why they are doing it that way. It's because of the huge costs in building HSR route across the Cajon Pass and mountain range to get to either LA or Anaheim.
There is a bright spot though. I also read something about CAHSR in talks with this Vegas HSR line so they might have a connection in Bakersfield. If that is the case, that would solve a huge problem in getting to LA. I hope that does happen. It would benefit both CAHSR and the Brightline West project.
@@theexmann From what I read the connection is supposed to be in Palmdale connecting to the future CAHSR station. but then Brightline proposed the CA station to be in Rancho Cucamonga Metrolink station first. Then phase two towards Palmdale. I suspect building a connection directly into the city would be too costly for Brightline because they are a profit-driven company. Quite honestly there are so many gimmicks to private train companies I am skeptical of their future and maintaining service. Brightline had to shut down once because of Covid. It looks to be the Vegas HSR is dependent on the progress of the CAHSR. Which to me has much more potential. I use to think poorly about the CAHSR but now the planning looks more impressive.
@@xxPlaceboxx If both projects can work together so that both HSR lines have a direct shared connection in SoCal somewhere, that would be a game changer mostly for the Brightline project, but it would also extend the capability of the CAHSR to a neighboring state. You can have passengers from SF get to Vegas with just one transfer from one HSR train to another or vice versa.
An update from bright-line itself would be beneficial. The only way most of us even know about this project is by privately produced TH-cam videos
brightline has a website with the project.
Unfortunately, it looks like Brightline west is falling into the same pattern of the previous two ventures. Who knows when it'll get built now. And you talk about the "dreaded California high speed railway" but they're actually the only true high speed railway that's being built. Brightline is now delayed another year and more than likely won't happen since this specific railway has a track record of not being built.
Well, when they went into the market to get money at the same time it was the election and the stock market was kinda wonky. So they said they are going to return to the market in 2021 we actually should here some news very soon about project. Especially after the new secretary of transportation proposes high speed rail for America I think after that it may get investors excited again and they may start to invest so we just have to see
@@CaptainJeau I REALLY hope so. But at this point, I am very skeptical of high speed railway projects in this country.
@@CaptainJeau Never going to happen as long as Victorville is the terminus in CA.
thank you
What I heard the LA to Las Vegas high speed train will use ICE 3 Velaro D
It's most likely to use SCB-40s and Ventures
@@AVeryRandomPerson If they propose to run up to 185 mph they’ll need some beefier and faster equipment
@@AVeryRandomPerson its going to use alstom avelia, or siemens velaro trains.
Be better to have a high speed Las Vegas train station behind the Aria, Bellagio, Caesar Palace... The Rio is directly next to existing train tracks(behind Caesar’s Palace separated by I-15). They are thinking about renovating the Rio? There is a big Rio (mostly unused) parking lot next to the tracks. Build a station there, have some sort of underground/overhead connection, subway, monorail and walkway under or over the 15 to Caesars, Bellagio, Aria .. The Strip. Maybe connect the existing monorail that connects The Bellagio to the Aria with the high speed train station/Rio Hotel and Casino. Get people excited the moment they get off the train (not so much worried about transportation) at the heart and soul of Vegas.
A Victorville station is ridiculous. I do the trip from Long Beach to Vegas often. Silly to go to Victorville. I take Amtrak to Santa Barbara and San Diego. It’s fun. Getting a connection to Victorville would not be so much fun. Amtrak has a new and perfect train station in Anaheim or ARTIC. It’s glitzy Vegas style. Get you in the mood for Las Vegas seeing the station a mile away.
I think the new train station in Anaheim would be the perfect place to leave for Vegas. Or those living in Vegas to go to the LA area or with their kids a day at Disneyland, walk to a game at Angels Stadium, walk to the Honda Center for a concert or hockey or go to the beach...
The Victorville terminus is the main problem with this project and why it will never happen. You know why they end it in Victorville, right? It's cost. Building anything beyond the Cajon Pass is just too expensive. However, if they did, connecting it to ARTIC is not a bad idea since that station was also built to eventually have HSR service.
@@theexmann Yeah I know. I think I first read about the Arctic station for a high speed train terminus in the late 80s. I saw the plans of what it now appears way back then, late 80s early 90s
@@ELMENDORFX True. Considering the huge struggle it's been for CAHSR to build the line from LA to SF, maybe they should have proposed a much smaller line to start with since the LA to SF line would be at least 400 miles. Which is on the higher end of HSR line lengths. A line from Los Angeles to San Diego with a stop at ARTIC might have been better. It could have served as a great showcase for building the following sections going North to SF, and they could have learned what and what not to do on the new sections.
@@theexmann Could be, but then they would have to build in cities and that area on the route is literally the most NIMBY place on Earth. I think the project could have died before even starting if they tried to build between LA and SD first. Also, the rest of the state would have liked a word or two with CHSR if they started by favoring SoCal before the Bay or the Central Valley. Politically, the easiest way to start building was in the Valley, because this way it was seen as a jobs program for an economically depressed area. And who could be against jobs, eh?
What happened to the old Union Pacific passenger rail station in Las Vegas? I remember back in the 1960's it was brightly lit and was within walking distance of the Las Vegas strip.
Help us bright-line you're our only hope
They've never built a true HSR line before so don't hold your breath.
@@theexmann *laughs in Brightline East Orlando section set for opening in 2022*
@@sygneg7348 None of Brightlines routes are HSR. Their Texas project would be their first attempt at building a true HSR. I wish them luck. The more HSR around the USA, the better.
@@sygneg7348 Umm, that one tiny section, which they haven't even built yet, will max out at a conventional 125mph. That's not HSR by any measure. It's just regular Amtrak service. Come to think of it, isn't Brightline using the exact same Siemens Charger locomotives and cars that Amtrak is getting for their entire fleet? The exact same ones Amtrak has been using for some services for years now? And the same ones VIA rail just ordered?
Hmmmm, could it be that Brightline is just a luxury Amtrak service rather than high speed anything? Or is Amtrak now high speed rail too then?
Great video
Good job! Keep up the good work! 10-6-21 St. Joseph, MO
Why did Amtrak cut the California to Vegas trip? they had in 93.
It was painfully slow and unreliable.
Though they did recently announce plans to offer it again based on the new proposed funding from the federal government. They would need to improve the service though. The trip from Union Station in La to Vegas Strip couldn't take more than 5 hours to be competitive to driving. If you drive from LA to Vegas it take almost 4 hours (at about 75 mph) and a little more than that if you stop and take your time to have a bite to eat. Though it could also take much longer depending on the weather or any kind of car accident or holiday weekend. Problems that a train wouldn't really be negatively affected by.
@@theexmann Factor in the time it could take to get to Union Station and it becomes much longer depending on the starting point.
@@johnburwell6609 Yeah, it depends. But I live close to DTLA so having someone drop me off or take an Uber would be relatively quick especially if I leave Sunday morning which I usually do now to avoid the car traffic, and then return very early to LA a few days later. Don't do the Friday/weekend trips anymore because of the traffic, and mid week in Vegas is less expensive too.
Before Amtrak, Union Pacific ran four daily trains in each direction between Las Vegas and Los Angles Union Station with three of those trains continuing on to Salt Lake City and points East.
With a perfect view of S/4 and Area-51 , 52 and and a Stop at Nellis AFB
High speed narration week.
If this was to ever expand past LA and LV, it should be to Phoenix, and not the other cities you mentioned.
Hello from Kansas 🇺🇸
👍Very nice!👍Thumbs Up & Like121
Run by adults, you don’t know how true that statement is. They want to move dirt and build. Other projects just want to create departments and talk about processes.
CA HSR has built a lot so far. Check out "The Four Foot" YT channel. He has a 4 part series on the construction progress of the proposed first section. It's a much bigger and complex project than most people realize.
Brightline west will probably be completed far before California high speed rail
The Desert Wind was more like the Desert Tortorise.
I just wish the state would just get it built so we the people could use the high speed rail
What's up with the obvious bias against government initiated infrastructure projects? Many of our most essential infrastructure projects have been funded and constructed by local, state, and federal governments. It's rich to hear this dude talk crap about government projects and in the same breath compliment private companies who are seeking GOVERNMENT FUNDS to build their 'PRIVATE' rail project. That's hypocrisy.
Brightline will never get this built from Vegas to LA, and the privately spearheaded HSR line in Texas will take much longer and cost more than currently being promoted. Just because a private company is at the helm doesn't mean it's automatically better. In fact the Texas line is less than half as long as the CAHSR line and the initial cost estimate is $40 billion. That's not any cheaper than the CAHSR line being built by CA. We've seen myriads of companies go bankrupt. Even in this video it shows how many times private companies have tried and failed to make the LA to Vegas line happen.
BTW, the trains connecting our cities are, for the most part, using 50 year old tech. We have an antiquated passenger rail system in the USA. We need to upgrade the entire system and not just add new HSR. What we have now for regular commuter passenger rail service is nowhere good enough by any modern metric.
Oh, what Brightline has running in Florida is NOT HSR!
Will they eventually build a brightline between California & Florida?
Economically it's hard to imagine that a line between LA area and Vegas would be viable since the ridership would be mostly limited to Friday afternoon/evening and Sunday.
The 15 highway has much more traffic than you think during the week as well.
@@theexmann While I agree there's quite a bit of traffic even during the week the bulk of the SoCal to Vegas traffic is generally Friday and Sunday. I use it midweek much more often than Fridays and weekends. Monday through Thursday is typically without delay, at least until you get through Cajon Pass.
@@johnburwell6609 I agree, but the worst traffic from LA to Vegas is always until you get to the Cajon Pass. After that, it's usually relatively good unless there is some kind of accident, and then the whole thing can get screwed up pretty fast. However, this project won't work unless it has a direct HSR connection to SoCal at either LA or Anaheim in order to bypass the traffic along our freeways to the Cajon Pass. If I could take a HSR train from Union Staton or the ARTIC station in Anaheim I would do it all the time. It's easy and cheap enough to get around Vegas without a car now-a-days. When I drive to Vegas, 8/10 I end up not moving my car after I park it.
@@theexmann I think that if you're constantly moving your car then you're just not doing Vegas right :))
@@TohaBgood2 LOL! The car seems to be moved less the older I get. :)
Absurd there is no HSR into Las Vegas from LA. And it should also be extended into San Diego to North County.
True, it is absurd.
Arizona is always left out.
Ah yes. 2nd episode in a row discussing the superiority of private passenger railroads.
This post brought to you by AnCap gang.
@@AmericanRailClub Great to see you here on another great channel which I watch!
I really don't like the way people frame this. It almost creates the impression that passenger railroading has any change in #$%# of being directly profitable from use fees/ticket sales. But this is just not true, nor has it ever been. Much like highways and airports and other transoportation infrastructure, passenger railways always make their money from something other than tickets. Why are people so afraid of acknowledging this fact? So what if transportation infrastructure generates its economics benefits from the network effects in adjacent economies rather than directly via tickets? What difference does it make? It's not like those positive economic effects don't exist or are negligible?
Sure, the transcontinental railroad was built on massive land giveaways and other subsidies from the government. But look at the benefit we got from that collectively as a nation! It literally propelled us to become the largest and most productive economy in the world for a century! Why not acknowledge the economics of this and use it to our advantage rather than hide our heads in the sand. Look at Hong Kong's rail transportation. One of the best systems in the world because they let it capture land appreciation adjacent to stations. Everybody wins!
Amtrak Joe is in the White House, Sam!
people saying this plan will always be "dead" yet clearly brightline has a good track record and seems like they are serious and will complete it some time in the next 5-6 years
Brightline runs a good but slow luxury service back east. It's more like Amtrak+ than French TGV. This project is a whole other deal on so many levels. They have to build brand new track where none ever existed. What they did in Florida was mostly rehabbing an existing freight right of way, which wasn't even in too bad of a condition. They need to built this track in a sometimes tight freeway median. The track needs to be high speed but the geometry of the freeway is just not conducive because it was built to a much different standard in terms of steepness and curves. The track needs to be electrified and the trains need to also be electric, which is again something they haven't done before and have no experience with.
I wish them good luck, but they are definitely biting waaaaaaay more than they currently know how to chew.
What is the point of having Brightline without CHSR? Victorville is half way between LA and Vegas. Who will drive to Victorville to catch a train? In LA traffic, getting to Victorville can take longer than driving from Victorville to Vegas!
Brightline are only building the cheap and easy part through the desert, leaving all the expensive parts of the route to be built by CHSR. If CHSR is cancelled, there will be no Brightline West and probably no Brightline at all, given how much they have invested in getting this project going.
They just announced that the plan was officially extended from Victorville to Rancho Cucamonga.
why a railway in the middle of the highway. seriously.
My opinion is to keep railways away from highways and buildt up areas.
They should pass through the most beutiful areas that could otherwise be private property owned by wealthy people or something like an ugly big road.
Not having a railway next to highway is something that's very normal in EU.
This us idea is just weird.
Ok that loco is weird 😂
CORN SALAD
NO IT SHOULD STAY IN FLORIDA THAT MAKES US SPECIAL
LOL! There is no true HSR in Florida.
RREEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!
It's also great 2 build by a highway for emergency vehicles to reach a trainwreck.
Or, cause further mayhem by hitting cars on the highway due to a derailment going at HSR speeds.
@@theexmann Oh, yeah uhm. Better build a barrier with openings every 1000 feet. Stong enough to not let it go in the road and wide enough for fire and rescue to reach it.
@@TheMrPeteChannel I believe all HSR rail routes in the world have some kind of barriers especially if they are that close to a freeway or highly used road.
@@theexmann Yeah, I think they are required to build a 10ft tall safety wall on both sides for the entire freeway adjacent section, which is most of the route. Kinda sad that you'll have to stare at a concrete wall for the entire 2.5 hours.
@@TohaBgood2 Indeed. If this does get built, it will be interesting to see how they construct those safety barriers. For one, they would need to have some kind of emergency access within them.
I miss brightline
Nah. Not no major city has no rail. Not no destination city has no rai. /
Keep the Chinese out of our companies hir Japanese engineers to help design and build this high speed rail
Brightline is serious about there projects and not sitting around just talking about what could be for 10 to 20 yrs they are making it happen faster than you think
#njtransit
Just think if Obama hadnt buried us in Afghanistan and the funds diverted to this , it would already be up and running. Or Bush and the trillions spent in Iraq. If either President hadnt wasted our tax dollars , we could have things like this. When are we going to stop the overseas waste.
The last thing Vegas needs is more trash blowing in from Cali.
How about Maglev? no fossil fuels. Don't you think rail is old and we need something new?
The maglev era is done. Japan decided it’s too costly and we have more experience with rails. Electric trains don’t pollute if the electricity comes from clean sources
Flixbus, Megabus or Airplane is a much better choice for now....
Planes are claustrophobic Covid death traps. Busses are awful transportation for long distances. I would rather drive every time. In fact, I would rather let a hyena chew off one my arms than take a bus. Trains on the other hand :)
Total bullshit.
Good job! Keep up the good work! 10-6-21 St. Joseph, MO