News & Reviews News Wire Comments deadline nears for Brightline West plan to build over Cajon Pass

Comments deadline nears for Brightline West plan to build over Cajon Pass

By Trains Staff | March 20, 2023

| Last updated on February 4, 2024

Route would use easement next to Interstate 15

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Cab car of commuter train at station platform
A Metrolink train departs the station at Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., on June 11, 2021. Brightline has purchased land for a station here adjacent to Metrolink’s. Bob Johnston

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — The California Department of Transportation is inviting public comment on the agency’s plan to allow Brightline West to build electrified high-speed tracks adjacent to Interstate 15 for 49 miles across Cajon Pass to Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. This would extend its route from Las Vegas, Nev., past a planned terminus at Apple Valley, Calif., into the Los Angeles Basin.

A press release earlier this month announced the comment period and set a deadline of March 23 at 5 p.m. PDT. A complete description of what Brightline West is planning is available within the Federal Railroad Administration’s environmental assessment.

Caltrans had already approved an easement along I-15 between the California-Nevada border and Apple Valley, which is near Victorville, Calif. Scaling and descending Cajon Pass on a right-of-way with grades that will accommodate high-speed trains promises to be a greater engineering challenge.

Although Brightline West has recently inked memoranda of understanding with building trades groups in the region [see “Brightline West, construction unions …,” Trains News Wire, March 10, 2023], financing has not been finalized.

Land was acquired for a station south of the Las Vegas Strip in 2019 and last year in Rancho Cucamonga, which is on a mostly single-track Metrolink commuter rail line from San Bernardino to downtown Los Angeles [see “Rancho Cucamonga, transit agency agree …,” News Wire, Oct. 28, 2022].

Preliminary route engineering has continued and Brightline has received approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation to utilize $1 billion in private activity bonds to help fund the estimated $10 billion project, but the actual borrowing must be done by the states of California and Nevada. A similar arrangement was used to finance Brightline’s Florida operations.

An earlier agreement with California to issue the bonds lapsed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The challenge now is to issue the bonds in a period of rising interest rates.

Comments may be emailed to Emily Leinen at Caltrans:Emily.Leinen@dot.ca.gov

Vacant land with buildings of Las Vegas Strip in the distance
Brightline West’s site of a proposed station adjacent to Interstate 15 south of the Las Vegas Strip is cleared and awaits construction on Oct. 17, 2019. (Bob Johnston)

14 thoughts on “Comments deadline nears for Brightline West plan to build over Cajon Pass

  1. Brightline has been very smart. They haven’t promised the moon. They haven’t used unproven technology. Just tried to build a railroad to move people. With minimal government involvement.

  2. The advantage of a train is that it can place you directly in the center of a city. Brightline in Florida (where I live), has primary stations located in downtown Miami, Ft Lauderdale, Boca Raton, and West Palm Beach. It’s a no brainer. Putting a station 3 miles from the Las Vegas Strip is a non-starter-bus shuttles or not. Doesn’t get my vote-but then again-I don’t live there.

    1. The problem with any kind of centralized transit in LV is that every resort/casino owner thinks the trains should stop in front of THEIR casino.

      So they have a monorail that runs behind (non-strip side) of them. The Aria cable cars are at least out front, but that is becuase the westside strip owners didn’t build right up to the curb, they have some setback. The eastside strip owners were old school and want your eyeballs immediately.

      I wouldn’t be surprised if some kind of people mover or fixed route recirculator runs through the Brightline station to take people up as far as Tropicana Boulevard.

  3. I don’t know anything about Las Vegas. My comment pertains to the Metrolink train in the photo. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a photo of cab car like that. Has Chicago Metra given any thought to such? Seems it can only be used at the end of the train, not as a pass-through.

    1. Charles,
      Metrolink has had them for about five years now. They are slowly replacing their original Bombardier equipment (c. 1990). The order was placed in response the 2008 Chatsworth head-end collision with a UP freight. The cabs have much stronger compression resistance than the Bombardier cab cars. It has taken awhile for all of the cars in the order to be accepted and placed into service. I forget the all of the reasons why the cars needed to fixed after delivery. Perhaps someone else closer to Los Angeles can fill you in on the details?

    2. The Hyundai cars had some subparagraph welding on the plow protecting the front under side of the cars. This came to light after a grade crossing accident when the welds broke and the vehicle went under the frame of the car. It made a simple grade crossing accident into a rollover with serious injuries.

  4. That station site is way to far outside of the strip, it’s even South/Southwest of McCarren International Airport…which you can see the FAA tower of in the distance of the accompanying photo.

    As for Mr. McClure’s statement…he needs to look into what Private Activity bonds are before speaking. In this case the bonds are issued by the states but backed up by PRIVATE investment…the states are liable for nothing.

    1. IIRC the station site is bordered by Warm Springs Rd, Robindale Rd, S Las Vegas Blvd, and I-15. About 3 miles from the Las Vegas Strip, but frankly there’s nowhere closer to put it. I do recall hearing that they originally tried to get the land later used for Allegiant Stadium, but that may have been in the pre-Brightline days.

      On the other hand, while the station site is 3 miles from the Strip, it’s only a mile to the airport’s Rental Car center, which makes it closer than the airport is. And while that’s a bit far to walk with bags, it means only a couple vehicles would be needed for a frequent shuttle, and not too many more for a shuttle to the Strip. Or maybe they could convince the monorail to build south to Brightline instead of east to the Airport, which I hear has put up resistance to the idea in the past.

    2. I am the OTHER M. McClure ans I am all for both California’s HSR and the Brightline project. And having been to Vegas many times, this location is too remote for a primary station in Vegas.

    3. Vegas is teeming with all sorts of public and alternate transportation options. They have a pretty robust public bus system, which could easily extend to the station. As others have said, a Brightline-branded shuttle bus to the car rental facility is a no-brainer. Cabs are legion, and Uber/Lyft rides are mostly plentiful. The monorail is bankrupt and won’t be extending any time soon, nor would I think it would be financially feasible for Elon Musk’s Boring Company to extend their tunnels all the way down there.

    4. Not sure how the LV Monotrail is broke. The last 2 meetings I went to in LV I boarded at the MGM and it was jammed to the gills to reach the Westgate/Convention Center.

      Either they need more conventions or raise the price during them, because all I have seen is stop to stop humanity in it.

      As for the Boring Tunnel, a novelty, but not a serious people mover IMHO.

  5. Yeah but Brightline has a proven history in the state of Florida. I don’t think there will be any fleecing here.

  6. nope calif taxpayers do not need another fleecing again like the high speed rail…that has really worked out..it also has had big costs overruns

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