Forget two-hour high-speed train trips to Las Vegas from Palmdale for about $100.
Nine months after announcing that China would help build a high-speed rail line from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, the private U.S. company behind the plan says the deal is off and that it will seek a partner elsewhere.
Las Vegas-based XpressWest said in a statement that the decision to terminate the relationship with China Railway International was based “primarily upon difficulties associated with timely performance and CRI’s challenges in obtaining required authority to proceed with required development activities.”
The company indicated its “biggest challenge” was a federal government requirement that high-speed trains must be manufactured in the United States to secure regulatory approvals.
“As everyone knows, there are no high-speed trains manufactured in the United States,” the statement said. “This inflexible requirement has been a fundamental barrier to financing high-speed rail in our country. For the past 10 years, we have patiently waited for policymakers to recognize high-speed rail in the United States is a new enterprise and that allowing trains from countries with decades of safe high-speed rail experience is needed to connect the Southwest region and start this new industry.”
The company had envisioned the high-speed train running about 150 mph, making for the two-hour trip. Early estimates were that the round-trip could cost as little as $100. However, unless you live in the high desert, you’d still have to drive to the Palmdale station. Nevertheless, that would have been a lot quicker than driving all the way to the gambling mecca from most of the Los Angeles area. Past four-hour drives have lengthened considerably with increasing traffic in the region.
XpressWest said it is optimistic that CRI and its affiliates will one day succeed in establishing a viable presence in the United States rail market but that, in the meantime, it is undeterred by the obstacles “and remains dedicated to completing its high-speed passenger rail project.”
“XpressWest will now aggressively pursue other available development partnerships and options expected to result in a more efficient and cost- effective project implementation experience,” said XpressWest CEO Tony Marnell.
The deal with the Chinese would have provided for CRI to assist develop, finance, build and potentially operate the XpressWest rail project connecting Las Vegas to Los Angeles, with stations in Las Vegas, Victorville and Palmdale, and service throughout Los Angeles.
China launched its own domestic high-speed rail service in 2007 and has the world’s most extensive network of such trains, covering more than 12,000 miles, according to the Los Angeles Times. It is now trying to export its rail technology, vying for contracts in Mexico, Southeast Asia and elsewhere, according to the newspaper. The L.A.-Vegas route would have been China’s first such contract in the United States.
—City News Service