IE Bullet Train Gets Federal Praise As SF-LA Project Under Scrutiny

INLAND EMPIRE, CA — The flow of federal for a 400-mile high-speed rail project that would carry passengers between Los Angeles and San Francisco may come to a grinding halt as the Trump administration opened an investigation into the ongoing plan on Thursday.

While Republican leaders and the U.S. Transportation Secretary denounced that plan, publically calling it a spending disaster, another project slated to take passengers between the Inland Empire and Las Vegas received surprising praise.

In a federal news release, Sean Duffy, the U.S. transportation secretary, announced the federal review of the multi-billion dollar LA to SF project, calling it "massively over-budget and delayed." He also noted that the project has a lot of differences from the IE's project, managed by Brightline.

READ MORE: Construction Begins On High-Speed Rail Project Between IE, Las Vegas

"The slow progress by CHSRA contrasts with the impressive work of Brightline West to build a high-speed rail system," he said.

Brightline West is expected to begin service between Rancho Cucamonga and Las Vegas in 2028 — just in time for the Olympic Games.

Brightline did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Patch on whether the project was still on track to reach completion in 2028.

According to the project's latest outline, electric-powered trains will cut the four-hour trip across the Mojave Desert to a little more than two hours.

Trains are expected to carry some 11 million one-way passengers per year, or some 30,000 per day, with fares well below airline travel costs, according to Brightline. Bullet trains will offer rest rooms, Wi-Fi, food and beverage sales, plus the option to check luggage.

The IE to LV project is forecast to cost $12 billion. Meanwhile, the LA to SF project, now under federal review, was slated to be completed in 2020 and cost $33 billion. However, the latest estimate for that portion has ballooned to $106 billion, Duffy said. The plan's Merced-to-Bakersfield segment would also cost more than the original total with a funding gap of at least $6.5 billion.

Officials aim to determine whether $4 billion in federal taxpayer dollars should remain committed to the project.

Brightline West, whose sister company already operates 16 passenger trains per day between Miami and Orlando in Florida, said last year that 218 miles of new track would be laid between a to-be-constructed terminal just south of the Las Vegas Strip and another new facility in Rancho Cucamonga.

"Brightline West will build on Florida’s award-winning service by connecting Las Vegas and Southern California with the first true high-speed passenger rail system in the nation," the company said.

For now, the project appears to have evaded the fast-paced fiscal chopping spree driven by the Department of Government Efficiency's Elon Musk in recent weeks, though it is also being supported by federal money.

The project's funding has included $6.5 billion from the Biden administration, including a $3 billion grant from federal infrastructure funds and approval to sell another $2.5 billion in tax-exempt bonds. The company won federal authorization in 2020 to sell $1 billion in similar bonds.