From California High Speed Rail Blog: SoCal to Vegas to Become Official Federal HSR Corridor Today

Link: California High Speed Rail Blog: SoCal to Vegas to Become Official Federal HSR Corridor Today

Thursday, July 2, 2009
SoCal to Vegas to Become Official Federal HSR Corridor Today

This image is about to get a makeover:


That's the map of the USDOT HSR corridors. One corridor that's not there is Los Angeles to Las Vegas. That is changing today:

The U.S. Transportation secretary will announce today the designation of a federal high-speed-rail corridor between Las Vegas and Southern California, a major assist that enables the long-imagined train route to compete for $8 billion in economic recovery funding and other federal support, the Las Vegas Sun has learned.

The announcement comes as two proposed fast trains are vying to connect Las Vegas and Southern California, a race that has intensified since President Barack Obama unleashed an unprecedented investment in high-speed rail as part of the stimulus bill approved by Congress.

It is unclear whether today’s announcement will favor one of the competing projects over the other. However, the federal designation improves the chances that a train will be developed between the two regions by opening the door to federal aid. Analysts think only one train system will be built.


DesertXpress has not as of yet planned to seek federal aid. I suspect that will have to change. Vegas is in the middle of a severe downturn, which means there's going to be much less private money available to fund it. The maglev is still alive, although with Sen. Harry Reid having switched his support to DesertXpress, I don't see the maglev plan lasting a whole lot longer. Some of its remaining backers include Bellagio CEO Bruce Aguilera, but the Bellagio and the other Vegas resorts are going to have their hands full riding out the recession.

I expect DesertXpress to be the "last project standing" along the Vegas HSR corridor. Whether it gets built, of course, is another matter entirely.
Posted by Robert Cruickshank at 12:49 PM
Labels: Department of Transportation, Desert Xpress, Harry Reid, HSR Strategic Plan, Las Vegas, maglev, Nevada, Ray LaHood
4 comments:

Jack said...

Does this plan include connecting to LA? Or is it still hamstrung by stopping before the mountains.
July 2, 2009 1:45 PM
Reality Check said...

Jack: it's not a plan. It's just a federal HSR corridor designation which will permit qualifying HSR projects in the corridor compete for federal support/funding.
July 2, 2009 2:04 PM
Jack said...

I know that about the corridor. The post also mentioned competing plans. Was The DesertXpress plan the one that "goes all the way?"
July 2, 2009 2:17 PM
Peter said...

The DX plan currently only goes to Victorville in the 1st phase, but will connect to Palmdale and the rest of CAHSR in the 2nd phase.

That's better than the maglev, who's 1st phase will only be to Primm, NV (where there are a few casinos and outlet malls, nothing else). The maglev in it's 1st phase will basically be a glorified shuttle to the Ivanpah Airport (if that ever gets built).
July 2, 2009 2:45 PM

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