Brightline East and West: Chance for the US to Get High-Speed Rail (Finally)

- Book train, bus & flight tickets through the Omio: https://omio.sjv.io/VyNY4k and support our channel. Thanks. - Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/railways_explained ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ► Railways Explained aims to establish a WORLDWIDE COMMUNITY of all RAIL LOVERS, WORKERS AND EXPERTS, by creating regular, entertaining and educational railway content of high quality. ► If you find yourself in at least one of these three groups, support this idea by SUBSCRIBING TO RAILWAYS EXPLAINED. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - After the video in which we spoke about the construction of the high-speed rail in California, we decided to make another video with similar keywords: the high-speed rail and the US. That’s why Brightline is our today’s topic. Brightline is a privately owned inter-city rail service, based in the US, in Florida. However, in perspective, this company has the vision to construct and operate two routes: one that should be an extension to their existing service in Florida, branded as Brightline East, and one brand-new, that should be constructed and operated in Las Vegas and Southern California, branded as Brightline West. In 2012, owners announced plans to construct and operate high-speed rail service between Miami and Orlando, in the length of 235 miles (378km). The estimated cost of the project was about 4 billion dollars and the project was divided into two phases. The first phase included a route from Miami to West Palm Beach, and the second one included an extension from West Palm Beach to Orlando. As for the potential of this line itself, the metropolitan area of Miami currently has about 6.2 million inhabitants while the metropolitan area of Orlando currently has 2.3 million. In between, there's a West Palm Beach with a population of about 5.8 million, which means that there is solid potential in the sense of utilization of passenger service. On the other hand, the initiative to construct a rail line between Las Vegas and Los Angeles along Interstate 15 was launched under the name DesertXpress in 2005. For the purposes to develop, construct, own and operate this rail line, the company named DesertXpress Enterprises was founded as early as 2005. Furthermore, in June 2012, DesertXpress Enterprises announced a new plan to build a network of high-speed rail lines from Las Vegas to Phoenix and from Las Vegas to Salt Lake City and Denver, Colorado. The project was subsequently rebranded to XpressWest to reflect these expanded ambitions. Initially, the city of Victorville was selected as the location which will be linked with Las Vegas, bearing in mind that extending the line farther into the Los Angeles basin through the Cajon Pass was considered too expensive. But, the 50-mile (80 km) extension from Victorville to the city of Palmdale was later included in newly emerging developing plans. However, due to problems with securing the funds and failed idea of a Joint Venture with the Chinese, led to the owner’s decision to sell part of the XpressWest project to Fortress Investment Group in September 2018. The XpressWest project was then rebranded to Brightline West - and now you see the point. For the whole story, check out our video! Credits: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Tb2PfX7R9lV_TAAWb-wrZwyIgUVUdqMc/view?usp=sharing - If you enjoyed this video, SHARE it with your rail-loving friends to help us raise our community, and of course, leave your opinion in the COMMENT section and hit the LIKE button. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ► Stay connected with us on social media: - Facebook: https://facebook.com/RailwaysExplaine...​ - Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/railways_ex​​​​... igshid=k0tv5loew79e&fbclid=IwAR0Ix2jPPbcUwhArt_iym9vzKgvrUQaLLH_4JkhILyzyY_upCyxTf5qxcwA - Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/railways-​​​​... #Railroad​ #​HighSpeedRail​​ #USA