A representative of DesertXpress Enterprises, the company planning to build a 185-mile high-speed rail line between Las Vegas and Victorville, Calif., today said as the company negotiates supply and construction deals, one of the considerations would be attracting contractors willing to manufacture materials in Nevada or Southern California.
Andrew Mack, chief operating officer of DesertXpress, said the company is negotiating supplier contracts and hopes to have most of them in place by the end of the year so that engineering and construction of the rail line could begin in 2012.
The company received environmental clearance to proceed with the project through a record of decision by the U.S. Transportation Department’s Federal Railroad Administration in July.
Mack was a speaker on a panel at the three-day Western High-Speed Rail Alliance conference at the Bellagio. About 150 transportation experts and rail company representatives are attending the event, which had its organizational roots in Las Vegas.
The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada and Las Vegas-based transportation consultant Tom Skancke recruited transportation experts from Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Colorado to form the alliance and staged its first conference last year. The organization hopes to influence national rail policy with broad representation from western states.
The privately funded DesertXpress project would be the first high-speed project in the West and is furthest along in planning, environmental reviews and financing.
Mack said DesertXpress is in the process of selecting its primary design, engineering and building teams and its rolling stock supplier and operator. Mack declined media interview requests after his presentation.
The company also is awaiting word on a $4.9 billion federal loan to build the $6.5 billion project, a dual-track line that eventually would tie in to the California high-speed rail system with a 50-mile extension from Victorville to Palmdale, Calif.
The loan is being requested through the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing program.
Mack said the company is coordinating efforts with a joint-powers board representing Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties and the cities of Victorville, Hesperia and Palmdale on the development of the so-called High Desert Corridor, a freeway connecting Interstates 5 and 15. The corridor would be wide enough to accommodate the rail line, which is critical for DesertXpress because it would enable the train to tie in to the California high-speed rail system at Palmdale and provide seamless trips between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Mack said Victorville makes sense to the company’s developers because it is a natural traffic collection point for the region and that 90 percent of all travelers to Las Vegas pass through the city. He said the company believes most of the train’s passengers would live within 45 miles of Victorville.
Mack said while a fare structure hasn’t been established, the average ticket would be $50 one way and that trains likely would leave stations every 20 minutes — every 12 minutes during peak traffic periods. Depending on the number of cars in a train set, one train could carry between 500 and 700 passengers — about the number two fully-loaded jumbo jets could hold.
Other details from Mack’s presentation:
• The company will be required to purchase the right-of-way it uses, whether it’s federal, state or private land. No houses would have to be purchased anywhere along the route.
• The biggest controversy on the route was a section through Barstow, Calif., where the company originally planned to build through an industrial area. Mack said the company negotiated with city, state and federal officials and kept the route within the I-15 corridor instead. Barstow officials, however, are still irritated that the train won’t make a stop there when it begins operations.
• While the train would travel 150 mph — relatively slow by high-speed rail standards — Mack said that speed is the economic “sweet spot” for the company that would generate the most revenue at the lowest cost.
• Multimodal connections are being negotiated for both the Las Vegas and Victorville stations. In Las Vegas, where two potential station sites have been identified, one on the west side of I-15 near Mandalay Bay and the other west of I-15 near the Rio, the company is negotiating bus connectivity with the Regional Transportation Commission, hotel shuttles, taxi companies and a rental cars.
The Western High-Speed Rail Alliance conference is reviewing several aspects of rail travel, including projecting the future of the industry on local, regional, national and international levels. Earlier today, panelists included experts from high-speed railroads in Japan, France and Spain.
The organization includes regional transportation planning agencies in Las Vegas, Reno, Salt Lake City, Denver and Phoenix.