The Western Triangle
West-Central Gets Connected
Primary Route
Los Angeles to Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Las Vegas
Phoenix
Los Angeles to Las Vegas
A Tourist Route with Critical Infrastructure
Historical and current plans for a Los Angeles to Las Vegas route highlight "Sin City"'s reputation as a party destination. As Brightline builds out that connection in the median of I-15, there are some critical features that ought to be addressed by a second line.
First, the I-15 Corridor is a link that sees a large amount of traffic as it serves as a major route between Salt Lake City and the general North/Central regions to Los Angeles and Phoenix. If any accidents occur, the traffic in that region can take days to a week to clear up.
Second, the lakes in the west face a seemingly existential crisis as groundwater in the West drops, and Lake Mead and the Great Salt Lake reach dangerously low levels. Potential solutions include pumping Pacific Ocean water into the interior saltlakes, and provide desalination to resupply the aquifers, as Arizona has done in the past.
Connecting Los Angeles to Las Vegas would then serve an infrastructure corridor from the Pacific Ocean to Salt Lake City. This route doubly serves as an interconnection to a proposed East-West route from San Francisco.
Phoenix to Las Vegas
A Hot Route for the Desert Sun
Regarding the water infrastructure scheme, a separate proposal puts a large scale desalination plant at Puerto Penasco and links to Phoenix. In the same way a water pipeline or aqueduct could be constructed between Los Angeles and Las Vwgas, so too could a line be constructed between Phoenix and Las Vegas.
Los Angeles to Phoenix
Transcontinental Main Line
The Los Angeles to Phoenix route serves two primary functions outside of the Triangle scheme:
1. It provides the terminus link for the Redline Transcontinental Line
2. It provides the terminus link for the Southern Transcontinental Line
Whereas the Redline continues East to Albuquerque, the Southern heads South through Tucson.
In terms of a Western water strategy, just as water lines are proposed on the Triangle legs to Las Vegas, supplemental lines between Los Angeles and Phoenix may allow for discharge and additional desalination at the Salton Sea, which resides between the two cities.
All legs connecting to Los Angeles are considered economically viable due to the large populations of the primary city and the proposed connection cities.
The Brightline Project
Serving Los Angeles Olympic Games by 2028
The Brightline West project connects Los Angeles and Las Vegas by way of Rancho Cucamungo.
The route takes over the median of I-15 between the two cities, providing for a single track to provide its service. As a proof of concept it is looking to be a project well-done. $12B seems to be modest in comparison with the estimated price tag of a Maglev service between Los Angeles and San Francisco (383 miles), of approximately $80B, with a top end of $120B. The difference being that the Brightline project is a single line with limited separation and no land to buy. It is an ideal path, which would be improved with more territory to expand the rail infrastructure corridor.
From nv.gov:
Project Overview
In December 2023, NDOT, in partnership with Brightline West, an intercity passenger high-speed rail service company, was awarded $3 billion from the Federal Department of Transportation toward its planned $12 billion Las Vegas-to-Los Angeles high-speed rail system. The 218-mile, all-electric high-speed rail service will include a flagship station in Las Vegas, with additional stations in Apple Valley, Hesperia, and Rancho Cucamonga. At 186+ miles per hour, trains will take passengers from Las Vegas, NV, to Rancho Cucamonga, CA, in just 2 hours and 10 minutes, twice as fast as the average drive time.
Brightline West broke ground in early 2024 with an ambitious schedule of being open in time for the Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games in 2028.
