Las Vegas high-speed rail line gets $2.5 billion in federal bonds as similar project on California beaches

The Biden administration on Tuesday approved $2.5 billion in federal bonds for a high-speed rail project connecting Las Vegas to Southern California after spending billions more on a similar project in California that has since failed to move forward of 15 years

The $2.5 billion bond approved by the Department of Transportation (DOT) builds on a $1 billion bond the department approved for Brightline West, the company that built the railroad, in 2020 and a grant of 3 billion dollars. assigned for your project in December 2023, seconds to a press release. The expanded federal support for the project comes as a federally funded high-speed rail project in California has yet to install a mile of track after 15 years.

DOT has expressed optimism about the Brightline West project, which the company plans to run from Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga in San Bernardino County, California.

“President Biden's historic infrastructure package gives us the opportunity to build safe, green and accessible rail systems that will deliver benefits to the American people for generations to come,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said of the project .

However, other federally funded high-speed rail projects have failed.

California votes in 2008 to build nation's first high-speed rail, approving $9 billion bond News Nation reported. Fifteen years later, the state has not laid a single mile of track by December 2023, and the California High Speed ​​Rail Authority estimates the project will cost between $88 billion and $128 billion to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles .

The Biden administration gave California more than $3 billion in grants by December 2023 to support its high-speed rail project.

Some have criticized the federal government for pouring money into a project that has made little progress.

“No way, shape, or form should the federal government allocate another dollar to California's inept high-speed rail,” said former Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. he said CalMatters.

“The California High Speed ​​Rail Authority has missed countless deadlines and misled the public about costs that are exorbitantly higher than originally estimated.”

DOT approved private activity bonds for Las Vegas project. The bonds are tax-exempt, which lowers project costs, according to a DOT news release.

DOT and Brightline West did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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