Railway Age, 11/17/23
STB Advances $12B Brightline West Project
Brightline West says its planned 218-mile passenger rail service will run from Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., with 96% of its alignment within the median of the I-15 highway.
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) has authorized construction and operation of a modified alignment of the high-speed passenger rail project proposed by private-sector firm Brightline West, subject to environmental mitigation measures.
STB in its Nov. 15 decision (download below) explained that in 2019, DesertXpress Enterprises, LLC, (doing business as Brightline West) “filed a petition to reopen this proceeding, seeking modification of a 2011 condition concerning the construction of an approximately 190-mile rail line for high-speed passenger rail service between Victorville, Calif., and Las Vegas, Nev. (the LV Line)” (see map above). That condition, STB said, authorized construction of a designated alignment, and DesertXpress sought authority for modifications to the previously approved alignment. . . .
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