Las Vegas Sun NewsHigh-speed rail project waiting on $5.5 billion government loan
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An artist’s rendering of a train on the XpressWest high-speed rail line, formerly DesertXpress.
Tuesday
12 February 2013
11:59 a.m.
The nation’s first privately funded high-speed rail line, which would connect Las Vegas with Southern California, remains in a holding pattern, awaiting a decision on a federal government loan, a representative of the company said today.
Andrew Mack, chief operating officer of XpressWest, told the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board of directors that his company is still awaiting word on approval of a $5.5 billion loan.
The $6.9 billion train project would link Las Vegas and Victorville, Calif., and, eventually, downtown Los Angeles via Palmdale, Calif.
The Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing loan, overseen by the Federal Railroad Administration, is critical to the XpressWest project. Mack said most RRIF loan applications take an average 19 months to complete. XpressWest filed for the loan in December 2010.
Mack attributed the lengthy wait to the complexity of the project and the amount of due diligence the FRA must complete to approve the loan.
Once the loan is approved, it will take about a year to begin construction and five years to complete the project, Mack said. Because most of the rail line would be built within the Interstate 15 right-of-way, the construction period would serve as “five years of advertising that the train is coming” to motorists who drive between Southern California and Las Vegas, he said.
Mack’s update to the LVCVA board took top billing at today’s meeting after a presentation on a proposed multimillion-dollar improvement project for the Las Vegas Convention Center was postponed.
Rossi Ralenkotter, president and CEO of the LVCVA, was scheduled to provide details about that project today. But an LVCVA spokeswoman said Ralenkotter is ill and is critical to the presentation, so the matter was removed from today’s agenda.
Last month, Ralenkotter outlined plans to refurbish the Convention Center, build a World Trade Center facility on the campus and turn a parking lot at the center into a multimodal transportation center.
Officials said the presentation is now tentatively planned for a special meeting on Feb. 26.
“This isn’t a renovation project,” LVCVA board member Charles Bowling said. “It’s securing our future.”
LVCVA officials have said the upgrade is critical to Las Vegas maintaining its 18-year hold on hosting the most major conventions and trade shows in the United States.
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Do a little market research first!
If you do, you'll see the numbers will never work ! Who in their right mind would park their car in Victorville, no doubt pay some outrageous parking fee, go through TSA, pay a $100 or so EACH, then arrive at the same time as if you just kept driving from Victorville, and arrive with no car and have to pay Vegas outrageous taxi prices, then do the same thing to get back home?
Maybe if it started in LA it might have a chance, people with junk cars that can't make the drive and people without cars might ride it, but even this group will most likely just fly at a lower cost.
I can guarantee those putting this deal together are NOT using their own money!
It's the "eventually" part of the equation that is bothersome about this project. The only way that this is even remotely viable is if it goes from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. A line that ends in Victorville is going to have almost no riders. If you are going to LA, the worst part of the drive still lies ahead, and if you're going to Las Vegas, the worst part is behind you. You also need transportation into and out of Victorville.
if its "privately funded" then why are u waiting for a "GOVERNMENT LOAN" ???? statement makes as much sense as this project--NONE!
Right now u can catch a bus and ride to from la for $45. You can catch a plane and ride for $120 (usually less) You can drive your car for $70 round trip gas (or less). this has zero chance of success. This must be the same group that brought you the mono-rail---that you have to walk a half mile and pay ten dollars at the back of the property, then get dropped off 3/4 of a mile at the back end of some other dump--only to walk and walk and walk to get back to the strip, where it should have been built in the first place, and it doesn't even go to the airport which is the most important stop for most people, and it's the first leg that should have been built!!!!
Of course the politicians and builders and promoters all have some vested interest in pushing this garbage forward so of course they will shove it down our throats and then ten years from now everyone will wonder why such a "great idea" is losing money each year--every year!
IF Federal Government is smart, it will ask for a COMPLETE planing of the project, meaning that costs must be calculated to build the whole thing, from LV to LA Union Station. And even if it doesn't cost 6.9B but 10B, the loan should be granted an even raised to 8B. But only IF they come up with a decent plan, how to lay high speed tracks from Victorville to Palmdale to Downtown LA, if they don't, well, then screw this pointless project! What's my business in Victorville? Do I have a car in Victorville? Can I reach West LA from Victorville by car within minutes? Without traffic?
This idea has "Loser" written all over it.
This rail project is a money pit, and NEVADA will be the one holding the bills. All you're building, now that America's economy has collapsed and is STILL COLLAPSED, is a high-speed train for illegal aliens to get further into our mainland to disappear.
With 5.5 billion of the funding coming from a government loan it is a real stretch to call this a privately funded rail line. It is guaranteed to either go broke costing the taxpayer billions or require additional billions for completion and to stay in service.
Cost overruns are almost guaranteed and estimates of revenues and costs are surely over and under estimated as is the norm with any project requiring government funding/guarantees.
If I could ride non-stop to San Diego at prices competitive with driving I would consider it, maybe even Phoenix. But as it's designed it is more inconvenient and more expensive than any other mode of travel.
This is another pipe dream by those who can't spend enough of the publics money to accomplish nothing in search of agenda nirvana.
Victorville, Palmdale? Really? Why would anyone in their right mind with a destination other than Victorville want to take a train there and then need other transportation to their final destination at a cost and time taken greater than driving, flying or taking the bus?
The 5.5 billion is coming from the government? The government is the taxpayer, no? A typical government payoff for a train that that terminates in a desert which no one will ride. Buffoons.
Those who have bothered to do the research on the whole Southwest Network involving 6-7 states would understand that one isn't left in Victorville or Palmdale as the end of the track.
However, it is a reality that it will take a long time to construct the track for the Southwest high speed train network to be fully realized. By that time, the real need may very well have materialized. It is better to not wait until the need is critical.
Thank heavens for people with insight and vision, who are willing to begin planning and work with the future in mind. If costs today look bad, think of what they would be in the future in a more critical need.
I wonder where we would be if the first rail systems were not built in this country because it didn't fit all the destination plans of people from the beginning?
One thing we can be sure of is that big oil will be looking for every way possible to make this plan be terminated. They have done it before and will do it again if they can. I remember the old CA redline and how big oil saw to it that was terminated.
Any old person who will not live long enough to enjoy the new high speed rail system will gripe about costing taxpayers, while at the same time using the "children and grandchildren" as a rationale for anything they want.
This IS an investment in the future of our children and grandchildren. However, the chronic complainers will just keep on with their complaining.
Personally, I love the idea of high speed rail as planned. Transportation at arrival at the ultimate destination can be a rental car, bus, cab, monorail, streetcar, family or friends, roller skates, baggage checked folding bicycle, or a motorized chair for the old codgers in the bike lanes on streets. Wouldn't that be a sight! Maybe we someone would start a business for those relics of the past who want to travel by stagecoach locally.
There will be plenty of people to make use of a high speed rail system and the wonderful variety of destinations, from desert to sea, to skiing, diving, sailing and surfing, to gambling and much more. It will eventually become the preferred means of transportation, as well of commuting. Full speed ahead!
As a longtime California resident, I'm totally fine with a government loan for this project, and I'm also fine with California investing in it. We believe in innovation here, and that requires a certain amount of calculated risk.
I'm almost 70. I likely will never live long enough to fully enjoy the benefits of high-speed rail whisking me around the country. But that's OK. My grandparents didn't live long enough to enjoy the interstate highway system, but they created it for me. And now I'm creating a high-speed rail network for my own children and grandchildren, who stand a good chance of being stuck in gridlocked highways unless we provide another transportation mode. We can't think only of ourselves here.