Brightline West completion date shifts to late 2029

The Brightline West completion date has slipped again, with the company now aiming for late 2029 to finish its high-speed rail project linking Las Vegas and Southern California, as reported by Trains.com.

This is reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply.

Brightline West shared the updated timing with KVVU-TV last week and did not elaborate on reasons for the new estimate. The company said it is in the “civil construction” phase, focused on preparing the route along Interstate 15.

Don’t miss…Alstom Avelia Horizon order adds 15 trains for SNCF

Route and construction segments along Interstate 15

The Brightline West high-speed rail project is planned as a 218-mile service between Las Vegas and Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., built mostly within the right-of-way of I-15. On the Brightline West construction page, the company says construction is divided into four segments—three in California and one in Nevada.

The plan also calls for four stations and a maintenance facility in Sloan, Nev., as part of the facilities needed to support operations on the Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga route.

Earlier targets tied to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

At groundbreaking ceremonies in April 2024, officials said Brightline West would be done in time for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, which begin in mid-July of that year. The company later revised the target date to December 2028 in documents related to a bond offering last January.

That benchmark has since been eclipsed by the late-2029 timeline, extending the current completion outlook compared with what had previously been outlined.

Project cost and the $6 billion federal loan application

Rising construction costs pushed Brightline West to apply for a $6 billion loan from the federal government last year, as previously covered by Railway Supply.

At that time, the project cost estimate had increased from $16 billion to $21.5 billion as work continues on the Brightline West high-speed rail project.

News on railway transport, industry, and railway technologies from Railway Supply that you might have missed: