New venture touts $100 million for Vegas-Victorville express train
By: Eric Hartley (Las Vegas Review Journal) September 2015
A newly formed Chinese-American joint venture said Thursday it has raised $100 million to help build a long-awaited high-speed train connecting Las Vegas and Southern California.
Construction on the XpressWest line could begin in about a year, in September 2016, according to Thursday’s announcement.
The 230-mile line would have a station in Las Vegas and two in California, in Victorville and Palmdale.
It’s not the first time, however, that construction plans have been announced. In early 2010, then-Desert Express announced it would break ground later that year. In 2012 the name was changed to XpressWest and officials announced the link to Palmdale, Calif., where the line would connect with California High Speed Rail System.
The joint announcement from XpressWest and the new China Railway International U.S.A. did not say when the line would be finished or how much it would cost. A statement Thursday from the joint venture described China Railway International U.S.A. as a new Nevada limited liability company and lists six entities within the LLC.
Officials with XpressWest and the Marnell Cos., which oversees it, declined to make anyone available Thursday to answer questions. An executive assistant with XpressWest, Ray Tao, said they will release more information “after obtaining additional required regulatory approvals.”
The deal also was announced at a news conference in Beijing, with officials touting it as the first significant Chinese-American high-speed rail partnership, Bloomberg News reported.
The deal followed four years of talks, according to Bloomberg.
Gov. Brian Sandoval, who was in Las Vegas on Thursday to conduct an Office of Economic Development meeting, said he had heard about the Chinese investment but hadn’t been apprised of any additional details.
He recently appointed five members to a new Nevada High-Speed Rail Authority, which will be responsible for selecting a franchisee to develop a system linking Las Vegas with Southern California. The authority board has yet to meet, but it’s widely expected that XpressWest will be selected. Board members either couldn’t be reached or declined comment Thursday.
Las Vegas hasn’t had regular passenger train service since 1997, when Amtrak stopped its Desert Wind route. With millions of Californians making the trek here by car and plane every year, the potential market for a cross-border train could be huge.
Initial plans called for terminating the route at Victorville, far from Southern California’s population centers. But the current proposal, to push on to Palmdale, would link XpressWest into the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s planned 800-mile system of 220-mph trains serving 24 population centers, including San Francisco, the Los Angeles basin, Sacramento and San Diego.
The Las Vegas line has run into roadblocks, however, in part because of the multibillion-dollar cost and the complexity of environmental reviews.
Over the years, different groups proposed conventional rail and magnetic-levitation trains. But in 2009, the XpressWest project drew a key supporter: U.S. Sen Harry Reid, D-Nevada.
“Senator Reid has been a cheerleader on this project for many years,” Reid spokeswoman Kristen Orthman said Thursday. “He’s glad to see this progress and remains committed to assisting as needed.”
Jonas Peterson, CEO of the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance, a nonprofit organization that drives economic development in Southern Nevada, said a high-speed rail system would be a boon to Las Vegas.
“Anytime we can connect directly with a region like Southern California, it pays huge dividends for us,” Peterson said Thursday. “It would be an incredible leap forward for us.”
Categories
- Benefits Resources
- Bonding
- BOP
- Business Insurance
- Commercial Auto
- Commercial Property
- Company News
- Construction
- Crime Insurance
- Cyber Insurance
- Directors & Officers
- Employee Benefits
- Employment Practice Liability Insurance
- Entertainment
- General Liability
- Health Insurance
- Healthcare
- Healthcare Reform
- Homeowners Insurance
- Hospitality
- Manufacturing
- Medical Malpractice
- Mining & Energy
- Nightclubs
- Personal Auto
- Personal Insurance
- Professional
- Restaurants
- Retail & Wholesale
- Risk Management Resources
- Safety Topics
- SBA Bonds
- Security
- Seminars
- Technology
- Tourism
- Transportation
- Uncategorized
- Workers Compensation
Archives
- May 2021
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- November 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- February 2013
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- March 2011
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- April 2010
- February 2010
- November 2009
- October 2009
- November 2008
- August 2008