High-speed rail report sees $1 billion in use
At the time, XpressWest executives said they terminated the partnership because China Railway International had difficulty meeting performance deadlines and had trouble getting the authority to proceed with development.
XpressWest executives this week did not respond to questions about whether the company has secured another investor. And the company did not provide an updated construction timeline.
Construction for the first leg was supposed to start in fall 2016, but that date was pushed to early 2017. The project would start with a 185mile segment from Las Vegas to Victorville, California, following the Interstate 15 right-of-way. From there, the track would extend 50 miles from Victorville to existing commuter service in Palmdale.
Eventually, Palmdale’s commuter rail connection would be upgraded to high-speed rail when California’s system is completed and links to XpressWest.
In a statement, XpressWest CEO Tony Marnell said that environmental work is completed and that he was “encouraged” by President Donald Trump’s “vision for infrastructure in the United States.”
“Like many projects that require collaboration with the federal government, our development efforts have been subjected to a bureaucracy that has been in a state of transition,” Marnell said. “The ridership study validates the Las Vegas to Southern California high speed rail corridor as the best investment for high speed rail in the United States.” Contact Art Marroquin at amarroquin@reviewjournal. com or 702-383-0336. Follow @AMarroquin_LV on Twitter.