DesertXpress is a proposal to build a privately funded high-speed rail passenger train from Victorville, California, to Las Vegas, Nevada.[1]
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The proposal will provide an alternative to automobile travel between the Los Angeles area to Las Vegas along Interstate 15 as well as an alternative to airline travel. This highway is a direct automobile route between the two regions and carries heavy traffic.[2] Greyhound buses cover the route in between five and seven hours, while automobiles take around four hours.[3] Currently, there is no passenger train service to Las Vegas. Amtrak last operated passenger train service to Las Vegas in 1997 on its Desert Wind route, which was cancelled due to budget cuts.
The city of Victorville was selected as the location for the westernmost terminal since extending the train line farther into the Los Angeles basin through the Cajon Pass would be prohibitively expensive.[4] Victorville is about 40 mi (64 km) from Riverside, where a station was proposed for the California high-speed rail line. The station will include free parking and through-checking of baggage straight to the Las Vegas Strip resorts.[5] A future extension would include a new link to the California High-Speed Rail station in Palmdale.[6]
The train would travel at speeds of up to 150 mph (240 km/h) and would make the 186 mi (299 km) trip from Victorville to Las Vegas in about 1 hour 24 minutes, shaving about two hours off the travel time.[7][8] The backers of the project are currently in the process of raising funds for its construction, estimated at between US$4 to 5 billion.[7][9] The cost would be about $21 million per mile, typical of European HSR construction. The project is set to begin construction in early 2012 and start full service by early 2016.[10]
The tracks are planned to be laid largely within the right-of-way of Interstate 15, although in sections it would pass through federal land controlled by the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service.[5] Station locations in each of the terminus cities have not yet been identified,[5] and the line is not planned to stop at intermediate cities.[9] The train is planned to take 84 minutes to complete a one-way trip between Victorville and Las Vegas.[11]
Although Desert Xpress is intended to serve passengers from Los Angeles, the route does not extend into that city due to the high cost of building rail in urban areas. A future 50-mile (80 km) extension to the city of Palmdale, where Desert Xpress would join the proposed California High-Speed Rail system in order to connect with Los Angeles, is a possibility.[12]
DesertXpress estimates that it will carry around five million round trip passengers in the first full year of operation,[13] with the company charging fares of around $50 for a one-way trip.[11]
In March 2010, executives with the project said they expected construction to begin in 2010.[5] As of October 2011, construction was planned to begin in the last quarter of 2012, with completion in the last quarter of 2016, subject to funding.[14]
A preferred design was identified with the release of the Final Environmental Impact Statement on April 1, 2011, which began a public comment period that ended on May 2, 2011. The Federal Government approved the design on July 8, 2011,[13] and the planned route was approved by the Surface Transportation Board on October 26, 2011.[15]
The total cost of the line is expected to be around five billion US dollars.
In March 2010, project planners said they could obtain the full funding amount through exclusively private investors[9][5], but had also applied for a $4.9 billion loan through the federal Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing program. [9] As of October 2011, start of the project was contingent on receiving a $6 billion loan from the federal government, approval or denial of which is expected in mid-2012.[14]
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