Brightline West will officially break ground this month on its $12 billion high-speed rail project between Las Vegas and Southern California.
The historic groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Monday at the future Brightline West station site in Las Vegas, Nevada, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
Brightline West’s flagship station will be located on 110-acres north of Blue Diamond Road, between I-15 and Las Vegas Boulevard and south of Harry Reid International Airport.
Expected speakers at the groundbreaking event include the U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Brightline founder and chairman Wes Edens and federal, state and local officials from California and Nevada.
Brightline officials said its California/Nevada project received a financial boost in December when President Biden announced $3 billion in funding from the Administration’s historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Brightline West will connect Las Vegas and Southern California with the first true high-speed passenger rail system in the nation, the company said.
Brightline West officials did not reveal a construction timeline or groundbreaking events in Southern California.
Groundbreaking on the Brightline West project was originally scheduled to begin in 2020 but was stalled when the company postponed a planned $2.4 billion bond sale for project. Brightline West officials blamed the delay on market instability because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Ground breaking dates were also expected in 2021, 2022 and 2023, but never came to fruition.
California stations
The all-electric rail service will also include passenger stations in Apple Valley, Hesperia, and Rancho Cucamonga.
The Victor Valley Station will be located 300 acres southeast of the Dale Evans Parkway and I-15 interchange in Apple Valley. The station may serve as the future hub for connecting to the High Desert Corridor and California High-Speed Rail systems, the company said.
The Hesperia Station will be located within the I-15 median at the I-15/Joshua Street interchange. The station will function primarily as a local rail service for High Desert residents making trips into greater Los Angeles on select southbound morning and northbound evening weekday trains.
The Rancho Cucamonga Station will be located on 5 acres at the northwest corner of Milliken Avenue and Azusa Court near Ontario International Airport. The station will be co-located with existing multi-modal transportation options, including Metrolink, for connectivity to downtown Los Angeles and other destinations throughout Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.