LAS VEGAS -- A high-speed train between Las Vegas and Victorville, California, is one step closer to becoming reality.
The DesertXPress project is expected to create more than 30,000 jobs once it's up and running, as well as relieve congestion on the busy Interstate 15. The project would have travelers zooming across the desert at nearly 200 miles per hour.
The project has now finished a very difficult environmental impact statement, a five-year process in which the proposed route is examined for its impact on nature. Now, with decision from the federal government, the DesertXPress has cleared a key hurdle.
The entire electric train is envisioned to run between Las Vegas and Victorville with top speeds around 190 miles per hour and a total travel time of about 90 minutes. One-way tickets will start around $50.
Its backers hope to someday connect the train with a planned California high-speed rail system that will run up and down the golden state. But, funding concerns have plagued the California project and cast doubts on that critical link.
Still, backers say the train is going forward even without a guarantee that it will connect to the California system. They believe southern California drivers will stop in Victorville, leave their cars and ride the rest of the way on the DesertXPress.
They say Las Vegans will take the train to Victorville and either rent cars or take shuttle busses the rest of the way into Los Angeles.
The train would have gone farther, but logistical problems negotiating the steep Cajon Pass in Southern California and bureaucratic right-of-way hurdles make extending this line into Southern California difficult.
The announcement is important for another reason, too: no other project, even the long-planned Maglev train, has come this far in the environmental process. DesertXPress backers say they could be ready to break ground early next year.
