They're essentially arguing that they should be allowed to be a monopoly unless a U.S. firm enters the industry from scratch. They really don't have much to gain from a judgement in their favor. Seems like a big waste of time and money.
That's not because they didn't win the bid (as the one they really want is CAHSR), but to set a precedent to either suppress certain build American waivers or to get the same, preferably extended. It's a playing field leveling move. The thing is that Siemens tends to fight dirty in the background, while Alstom does the same but in courts. They really have something to gain, just not on this project but on others where a decision on this dispute, one way or another, could help them.
@@KyrilPG I would be in favor of leveling the playing field, however any concessions that Alstom receive should also be given to Stadler to keep things fair.
@ I crave progress on the IOS. It's starting to look good. In the case of CA HSR, I do hope, and feel, that they're at the "point of no return" where it WILL get continual funding and open no matter what. I don't recall any infrastructure project this massive in US history that got this far and spent this much without getting completed.
Thanks for the shoutout, it means a lot! Shame to hear that Brightline West been delayed but at least it's still moving forward. The next four years is certainly going to be interesting for rail investment on both sides of the pond!
That Brightline West revenue service delay until December 2028 appears to make even more argument for Amtrak to hurry up and get a restored Desert Wind segment (L.A. via San Bernardino to L.V.) running. Sooner rather than later. Too bad the U.S. can't get rail projects done as efficiently as some other areas around the world.
@@nanashi1879 They could cobble together some shipping containers, plop them at some trackside location, install some doors & windows & HVAC systems, and call it their new station. Interim, until BW gets up & running.
Amtrak is not going to attempt to compete with this, even if it is slightly delayed. Heck, I would expect route and other cuts to service during the Trump administration, not new things. Only exception would be if the states of California and Nevada decide to pay for it, which I also don't see happening.
@@Geotpf Amtrak officials have themselves on occasion mentioned interest with such an LA to LV route resumption. Union Pacific, which owns the freight line in question, have also said they would need something like $1 billion in upgrades to make it happen. So: that would have to be discussed between Amtrak & U.P..
Sorry about preventing the 6th silver star. Love the channel though and glad to have this kind of specific news source with all the "interesting times" ahead.
Wow, thank you so much. I didn't mention anything in the video, but I'm still trying to cover the cost of the power station I bought to keep the channel from going completely dark when we have our wind-driven blackouts. This helps tremendously! Hopefully BLW construction will begin soon and we can see how the coverage plays out.
You're welcome. Thanks for your generous contribution. I will try to keep a high standard and hopefully the mission will expand shortly when Brightline West start construction in earnest.
I viewed it as political, but given their construction schedule, they may have been serious about it. They really do want to pull this off stem to stern in 48 months.
@@LucidStew I wonder if they could make it single track for certain parts if it could quicken the finishing of the line... since already most of the line is already planned for it to be that way anyway...
@ It's a combination of things, as far as I can tell. There are also plenty of things I don't know, like if there was difficulty getting all the contractors together. I'll go over a lot of different things in the bond memo video that might make the situation clearer.
On a non-HSR note … have you considered offering voiceover services for other RUclips shorts channels? I dig your witty delivery of HSR news here, and I’d love to hear you narrating lines like, “Here are the 10 biggest hotels not in Las Vegas”, “The friendship between this cat and its aardvark is so heartwarming”, and “Instead of detergent in your washing machine, use ….” instead of those unconvincing A.I. voices.
No, but I'd do it, why not? :D I honestly have a terrible voice for this. My timbre is awful and so is my breath control. I also have problems with consistent volume and being able to spit out a line longer than 10 words without screwing it up. The end product you hear is HIGHLY edited.
Thank you for another great video! As a transit lover, I'm definitely excited about Brightline West. But I'm also really sad that it doesn't serve any major destinations neither in Los Angeles nor in Las Vegas. Basically, it goes from nowhere to nowhere. People still have to drive to get to/from stations or make lots of transfers. The line should go from Union Station in LA via Las Vegas Strip to Downtown (Freemont Street). In that case almost everyone would want to take it.
Well, if the socal station were in L.A. instead of Rancho Cucamonga, I wouldn't ever use it because I'm not driving all the way into L.A. for 90 minutes to get on a 2 1/2 hour train to Vegas when I could drive there in that time, so the convenience kinda depends where you live in southern California.
@@CharlieWalkrich maybe Brightline West reaches LA Union Station someday, but I’d put more money on them sharing CAHSR, whether from Palmdale or if/when CAHSR’s Phase 2 route through the IE opens, than them building their own route into LA. Their Rancho Cucamonga station does put them not just on a Metrolink line but also right by the I-10/15 interchange, which pretty much everyone driving between SoCal and Vegas will pass through, so a number of those could (and likely will) park at the BLW station and take the train the rest of the way, an easier sell than the previous XpressWest’s terminus of Victor Valley.
@@ChrisJones-gx7fc True! It's better than nothing. But still... If I have to drive, I might as well drive all the way without having to wait and transfer multiple times and taking a train that costs more than driving. For most people in Southern California, taking this train probably won't be a better alternative to driving, unfortunately.
@@LucidStewIs it possible for Brightline West to have multiple stations in greater Los Angeles, like how Brightline Florida has stops in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties before heading to Orlando? I’ve only been to Southern California three times in my life, I don’t know the human geography of L.A. that well.
1:45 conservatives will defend that ludicrous ticket price for brightline but whimper and wail about any similarly priced Amtrak services, and constantly fight against CAHSR, which might have cheaper ticket prices than that.
Great! Happy New Year, Stew. For Brightline West, there's only one thing to say : duh... I'm pretty sure they won't open in 2028, and probably not in 2029 either. Given the almost comical pace of railway works in the US, this was predictable. Even the fast building developed countries for HSR, mainly France and Spain, take about 5 to 6 years to build a high-speed line, and that's after the pre-project phase from shovels in the ground to opening.
Happy New Year! Rolling stock alone seems difficult before 2029. I'll get into this more in the video about the bond offering, but they have their schedule lined up to finish everything at the same time. They're really not playing around with wanting to get it done fast. And I do have some level of confidence in the organizational capability because the Brightline Orlando extension was pretty close to on-time. They mostly got hung up on certification there, but only by a few months.
I wouldn't be surprised if they're waiting on securing the remainder of their funding, which is supposed to come from private sources, before they begin full-on construction. Having to wait for funding has been the biggest delay for the California HSR project, so it would make sense if BLW wanted to avoid that by having all their funding in hand. I also seem to recall something about them not having access to their IIJA grant until they had money to match it, or something to that effect (and I could be totally wrong about that).
@ still, they have the vast majority of funding ready to go. It’s “in the bag” in that respect. Chosen delays will just add cost and delay revenue service
I was expecting brightline west to get delayed at some point. Not that I'm not supporting the project (in fact, I'm in love with it), it's that a lot of huge projects like this seem to always get delayed. I guess better late then never.
Using the Brightline extension in Florida as an example, these are not easy to pull off. The refinancing of the Orlando debt was hailed as one of the most innovative finance jobs in any industry last year.
The biggest "news" from Brightline Florida was on December 28, 2024, when a train going 70+ mph hit a fire ladder truck that had driven around the crossing gates. Lots of video footage available. 14 people injured.
Being news that occurred in December, that would have been in the January video. However, I don't report on incursions as I'm more interested in project development and progress. There was nothing extraordinary about the fire truck incident beyond the vehicle being a fire truck. Something extra ordinary like a derailment or major structural service outage would make it in.
What they could do as a stop gap is run trains on the freight railway from Salt Lake City to Los Vegas and then to Los angles as a stop gap and reopen the desert wind service. Some money would need to be put in but it could be done to service the summer Olympics until bright line west starts 8:15
You could do it with 5 million dollars 500,000 to each survey 1 million to track improvements 1 million to rolling stock 1/2 million to training Quarter of a million into stations Then the other quarter of a million into operations
I'm not surprised by the delay of Brightline West . I'm sure there will be more , this is California after all .As for the price as of the tickets today you can fly out of Ontario California airport to Vegas the airport is around 5 miles away from the train station in Ranch Cucamonga Ca. for $39 to $60 today one way .
It's worth mentioning that the train, even in Smart, is going to be more like business class on a plane, but yeah, it doesn't seem like these ranges would be very competitive. They might be surprised to find out what the market will actually support. There is room for them to move lower than that. I'll get into that in the video on the bond memo.
@@raatoonsNot including bag check and security that could add up to 30 minutes or more depending on the time of year. Yeah, the flight is only 48 minutes but you still have to do a bunch of bull before you can even step foot on the plane.
Airline ticket prices that low on the Vegas route seems to me that the airlines are taking a flyer (oof! pun intended) on their profits in favor of customer loyalty. I think they would be rather happy to not have to fly this route once BLW starts service. No surprise if flights are drastically curtailed if not outright dropped.
That Tonnellee Ave. project would make for a nice grade-separated entrance to a great big mall. But not a rail line "inside the curve" of the 1910 NEC line (which has an on-one-side-heavily offset and spiraled central radius of 2500.) From 80 to 60mph and visa versa through that curve. Greatest piece of railroad infrastructure ever till China I suppose. The new tunnel approach there IS AN INSULT. As for the Hudson Yards Box - which has inadequate access to Penn and no feasible plan to address it - it could be used to access my West Side Line under the West Side H'wy - but they already built the idiotic 11th Avenue Line connection with a 300' radius for about 60 degrees. There's nothin like that anywhere else in the 1910 station. Well there's one shtty crossover in the orig. plan. Out by that curve everthing is tangent: six tracks space 12' (not 12.5) apart so when it gets to 9th Ave (interlocking A) there's nary a jolt nor antic (and still no stop at Willimantic) Oh, and how about the Avelia Liberty trains? I think they must need to move 'em around a bit or they'll atrophy.
The idea that Brightline West might open up *slightly after* the Olympics end is such a dissapointment. Maybe, just maybe, that preventing that embarassment could be the thing that prompts this Federal administration to invest in the train! Or am I being too hopeful?
Well that's Five Gold Stars right there! But don't it always seem to go that way with rail projects? (Oh the video's not delayed. Oops) Pushin' 3,000,000 riders in 2025 looks pretty good, and I see somehow this "totally private" company is getting a grade crossing removal grant? They used to have grade crossing removal districts between the wars, but I think the railroads had to pay for that. There was one here in Queens that elevated the big Jamaica station. I found out about them when I tried to stop the Newark-Elizabeth Rail Link. (Nwk "Light Rail" fmrly Nwk City Subway) They felt compelled to list the So-and-so Grade Crossing Elimination District (downtown Nwk) for environmental assessment in the DEIS then immediately issued a FONSI. Tracks right down the middle of the street again. TEXAS IDIOTS! It need not be so high. Really the right way is to just put it above and adjacent to the existing tracks without trying to make a high-speed railroad out of this section not 2000' from the (correct) station. They could always have a stop at the Conv. Center - excellent idea - but it's impossible to walk to that station from anywhere really. Part of it includes a bridge across the 20-some-lane highway. IDIOCY. The upper Main Waiting Room of that Union Station in Dallas is to die for. And having the tracks higher actually makes access from the room easier. So what if the DART sta. has to be a bit lower. I mean it might but it might not. It's always possible to get enough natural light in a situation like that. If you're not part of the cabal adherents trying to make it deliberately gloomy - and as for certain other stations... in... Ca.... and Nev... Well my psychobabble seems to be coming along but you should've read that one I mistakenly deleted about the Lincoln-Omaha line. It was very short and unintelligible. Joycean, I'd say.
I have them down for over 4 million trips this year. We'll see who is closer. :) Their financial situation as I understand it is that they have zero dollars to spend on Brightline Florida at the moment and are relying on grants and local governments until they can stabilize. It's not a half bad-model. Entities are going along with it, for now. Their revenue isn't great, but they did make a major improvement late last year by getting most of their debt out of junk bonds. I learned something interesting yesterday doing research. According to Hunt Realty, they own the air rights for the tracks as well as all the land involved, as well as a lease for and air rights over the parking garage between the viaducts by the convention center, so they seem to be holding a solid hand in this fight.
@@LucidStew Thanks for some add'l knowledge. No, if you say 4,000,000 then I'd take that as more likely than my suggestion of 3,000,000. Maybe 4,500,000? It's good they're well-set with property in Tx. but I've never seen a single proposal for an alignment through there that I thought was even reasonable. (doesn't mean there haven't been any) They know busting through everything there to save... not a minute... doesn't get them anywhere. Reasons for why is open to speculation to be polite about it.
@ Based on the capacity expansion, I calculated it at roughly at 4.2 million, but I think they'll fall short because they didn't quite hit the 2.8 million I calculated for 2024. They could very shortly be facilitating 300,000 trips a month, though. DFWHST is quite the fascinating project since it is an extension of a project that hasn't been built and may not be. On its own, its kind of silly, and would be even sillier if it terminated at a station that wasn't there. 😂
That's on the HDC Joint Powers Agency, but it's planned as a phase beyond the initial construction of the HDC. If everything goes according to plan, BLW will be complete and operating by the time the HDCJPA gets to the Victor Valley station.
They can't build an entire high-speed line with stations, overhead catenaries, power stations and transformers, training, testing, etc. in 3 years. Even for China, that's optimistic. We knew that.
Or, can they? Wait for the bond offering video to pass judgement. Maybe you will still feel the same, but there is a lot of interesting information in there.
Hopefully, as soon as Brightline West is completed, people will see the benefits of hsr and thus the newer lines will be built faster, and it will be easier to complete the entire phase 1 of cahsr. Will Brightline do 186mph or 200mph anyway?
186 is the new indicated top speed. They are now claiming the train is 200mph+ capable(and of course it is), but do not plan to run faster than 186 in service.
@@davidsz.horvath3357 The newer information I have indicates 186, but I can not say its static, nor do I have inside knowledge of the issue. I'm basing that on information which has been recently released by BLW.
Maybe the track management wouldn't allow speeds over 186mph in most places so they'll just stick to 186mph. But it would be nice to see a round number, say 200.
@@davidsz.horvath3357 186 mph is 300 kph, for a round number. That's also a pretty standard HSR top speed (and faster than the Tokaido Shinkansen, which tops out at about 180 mph in service).
I try to change yearly. That is part of a CAHSRA render. Last year was, of course, Siemens' render of the American Pioneer 220. Unfortunately the new one isn't accompanied be the same type of awesome music. :)
I was gonna be very surprised if it opened by 2030 lol. Not trying to be a Debby downer, but if we’re being realistic and honest about on time infrastructure projects, it rarely happens.. they’re still making some decent progress tho!
The construction schedule, which is already quite aggressive, won't support it. Some of that has to do with the sequence of events that needs to take place to get the track and trainsets certified.
Cahsr is a good lesson on how not to fund a project well. The many environmental lawsuits and the many unsavory companies all made the project more expensive. Do you happen to know when the cahsr extension to Palmdale will be ready, or the connection with BW? cahsr will definitely need to connect San Jose and SFA after this to be profitable or at least break even.
There is no solid plan for Palmdale at the moment. The only plan currently is San Francisco after Merced-Bakersfield. However, given recent rhetoric from the Authority, this may change. If all goes according to plan, I'll have a video discussing the situation in a couple of weeks.
Do you really think CAHSR will make it? I don't see how it'll survive. Tax revenue in CA is decreasing and they won't cut other programs to cover the shortfall. Given how hard it already is to live in CA i dont think the population will tolerate more taxes to pay for this
IOS is only $4 billion short. California can fund that until a more favorable administration comes in. Then hopefully the rest of the parts will be completed more quickly, including the BW Cahsr connection
@@LucidStewI assume they can finish the Merced route. But extending it to SF and LA is never gonna happen. If you have a few desert cities that noone has ever heard of connected is this thing gonna be profitable? So itll just be subsidized forever you're saying. Gee
@ Never is a long time. Something like San Francisco to Palmdale and Anaheim to Burbank in 50-60 years isn't totally unreasonable at the current pace. Closing the Burbank-Palmdale gap would take extraordinary measures. Also, by the Authority's estimates, S.F.-Bakersfield should run an operating profit.
@@davidsz.horvath3357 The problem is that "more favorable" administrations have so far only contributed $6.8 billion in 2 1/2 presidential terms. $680 million/year aint gonna cut it. It needs to be more like $6.8 billion/year.
Why are they starting the project barely this year? I thought it started in April 2024. No wonder it seems like they’re purposely delaying the construction start.
Oh, and FRA rail crossing elimination grant awarded to SCTPO will eliminate zero crossings in Brevard County. They are only putting up quad gates and medians. It's kind of a letdown.
Can you imagine if they came in and say. Well you can choose a few different routes and that is it. We are building. Now you ask how can I do that. Well it is better than taking property and building a parking lot for business. Also don't get me wrong. I'm all for businesses light bright line. Something like this large project. Should be something like the interstate systems. Just food for thought.
They rescinded the memo that instructed how to implement the EO, but not the EO itself. It would appear they will argue that as far up as they can take it.
Trains built by Siemens? I sure hope they are better than the P2000s they built for L.A. Metro. Those were unreliable and high maintenance. Kinki Sharyo cars are a better choice.
Any indication on California high-speed rail how the impacts of tariffs could play out. Trump has put 25% on Canada and Mexico and 10% to China. If they add Europe would that not add the cost onto purchasing the services and trainsets (especially if they are made in Germany) *moreso for the Brightline West project the last half.
Most of the projects are subject to Buy America requirements, which means the vast majority of products and sourced material has to originate in the United States. Also, civil engineering is a much larger component of overall costs, so even if the few foreign components do inflate, you're inflating the small part.
It is high speed. Top speed will be 300km/h, and will exceed the commonly accepted international definition of 250km/h top speed in 4 different places.
It was fairly obvious. They were talking about starting construction since late 2023. Still, I'd really, REALLY be surprised if they're operating by 12/28/28.
Govt. and big businesses are so selfish. Imagine if these rail companies had the desire to be a rail barron of years past. Shame. These people are just selfish and dont want to have an ounce of Old Time American Excellence. Makes me want to get into the industry.
@@counterfit5 Its already under construction. Their test track has already been going for two years. They have already perfected Maglev a decade ago. China graduates 10x as many scientists and engineers a year than the US does. And unlike the US? They build 4-5 universities a year as well. And in China a university education costs less than $1000 a year including books. Free if you are poor but smart enough to pass the entrance exams. The only things the US is ahead of China today is Obesity, Child poverty, Incarcerations, illiteracy and bankruptcies.
Unlike the rest of the world, Brightline only puts a signal arm on one side of the road for street grade crossings. People can easily drive around it. Everywhere else in the world there is an arm that decends on both sides of the road. Impossible to drive around. My guess is Brightline likes to bash cars and the front end of their trains.
Most transit isn't funded by the feds, let's please be realistic for a second. Maybe it's the end of federal support the but whole thing isn't going to collapse.
Transit and intercity passenger rail are treated a little differently. Neither will be defunded entirely, just as they weren't in the first Trump administration. However, transit will likely fare better.
If Brightline West is not opened for the Olympics then I've lost all interest . Somebody gotta learn how to follow a schedual if they claim to wanna be a passenger railway .
@ I personally think the only roads the government should maintain are the municipal roads in cities. The entire interstate system should be privatized and turned into toll roads. I’m a trucker and I’d be willing to pay a toll for faster speeds ans better quality roads plus lower my gas tax.
@@DerkSpringer Understandable. However, in states with large populations, such as California, high-speed rail will become increasingly necessary due to population growth. I wish to build such a system. Especially in California, where nothing goes smoothly. However, if it is completed, it will, among other things, reduce traffic on the highways, which can also be quite useful for you. Also, since the traffic is reduced, the maintenance costs of the highways are also reduced. You can benefit from it too. We should build these systems just for this.
Thank you! We're looking great on channel goals currently, and a bonus is that a recently power station(for blackouts) will make things easier for me on BLW Vegas trips when covering construction. I have my fingers crossed on those starting in the next couple of months.
Alstom actively trying to sabotage an infrastructure project just because they didn't win the bid for rolling stock does not endear them to me
They're essentially arguing that they should be allowed to be a monopoly unless a U.S. firm enters the industry from scratch. They really don't have much to gain from a judgement in their favor. Seems like a big waste of time and money.
@@LucidStew the corridor id program is in jepoerdy
I didn't know my opinion of them could get lower after the lemons that they built and called Avelia Liberty
That's not because they didn't win the bid (as the one they really want is CAHSR), but to set a precedent to either suppress certain build American waivers or to get the same, preferably extended.
It's a playing field leveling move.
The thing is that Siemens tends to fight dirty in the background, while Alstom does the same but in courts.
They really have something to gain, just not on this project but on others where a decision on this dispute, one way or another, could help them.
@@KyrilPG I would be in favor of leveling the playing field, however any concessions that Alstom receive should also be given to Stadler to keep things fair.
Minor news but California high speed rail also just opened The Fargo Avenue overcrossing, so one more structure off the list!
Every completed structure is good, and brings the IOS one step closer to completion.
@ I crave progress on the IOS. It's starting to look good. In the case of CA HSR, I do hope, and feel, that they're at the "point of no return" where it WILL get continual funding and open no matter what. I don't recall any infrastructure project this massive in US history that got this far and spent this much without getting completed.
Thanks for the shoutout, it means a lot!
Shame to hear that Brightline West been delayed but at least it's still moving forward. The next four years is certainly going to be interesting for rail investment on both sides of the pond!
You're welcome! Hopefully you get a few subs out of it. Good guess, even though you lowballed me. :)
That Brightline West revenue service delay until December 2028 appears to make even more argument for Amtrak to hurry up and get a restored Desert Wind segment (L.A. via San Bernardino to L.V.) running. Sooner rather than later. Too bad the U.S. can't get rail projects done as efficiently as some other areas around the world.
But there is no station in Las Vegas anymore. That went away after 1997 when the service was discontinued
@@nanashi1879 They could cobble together some shipping containers, plop them at some trackside location, install some doors & windows & HVAC systems, and call it their new station. Interim, until BW gets up & running.
Amtrak is not going to attempt to compete with this, even if it is slightly delayed. Heck, I would expect route and other cuts to service during the Trump administration, not new things.
Only exception would be if the states of California and Nevada decide to pay for it, which I also don't see happening.
@@Geotpf Amtrak officials have themselves on occasion mentioned interest with such an LA to LV route resumption. Union Pacific, which owns the freight line in question, have also said they would need something like $1 billion in upgrades to make it happen. So: that would have to be discussed between Amtrak & U.P..
At this point the US is not even as efficient as the UK and that is really, really sad.
A delay? I am shocked! Shocked!
:)
Sorry about preventing the 6th silver star. Love the channel though and glad to have this kind of specific news source with all the "interesting times" ahead.
no problem, it was a cool story :)
Thanks!
Holy moly guacamole!
Wow, thank you so much. I didn't mention anything in the video, but I'm still trying to cover the cost of the power station I bought to keep the channel from going completely dark when we have our wind-driven blackouts. This helps tremendously! Hopefully BLW construction will begin soon and we can see how the coverage plays out.
Thanks for all the great content and for keeping us informed 🎉
You're welcome. Thanks for your generous contribution. I will try to keep a high standard and hopefully the mission will expand shortly when Brightline West start construction in earnest.
Is this our old pal Lucid Stew again with Stew’s News?!?!
I think it is our old pal Lucid Stew again with Stew's news
This just have to be our old pal Lucid Stew. I wonder If he have some Stew's news for us?
Another great video! Thank you Lucid Stew! I always enjoy your videos and you definitely have a unique style of humor which I find hilarious. 🙂
It was announced today that Amtrak Cascades hit a new ridership record. The Eugene to Portland putting in WORK! 😤
The Olympic deadline for Brightline really doesn’t matter. It would have been a nice bow, but the Olympics is only 2 weeks.
I viewed it as political, but given their construction schedule, they may have been serious about it. They really do want to pull this off stem to stern in 48 months.
@@LucidStew I wonder if they could make it single track for certain parts if it could quicken the finishing of the line... since already most of the line is already planned for it to be that way anyway...
@ it is already planned with the minimum necessary to facilitate hourly headways.
@ I meant they downscale it even more for quicker operation, but slowly building up to the original planned alignment
Nice video! I'm always excited for Stew's News!
At least Brightline west wasn’t delayed for a few years
...yet :D
There will be delays for sure.. they havent started much construction yet
@@LucidStew let’s hope not
@@LucidStew Like what's going on? Why are they late on construction?
@ It's a combination of things, as far as I can tell. There are also plenty of things I don't know, like if there was difficulty getting all the contractors together. I'll go over a lot of different things in the bond memo video that might make the situation clearer.
You’re the man, Stew.
and you're the Eli!
The Ave Q graphic got more than a little chuckle out of me. Nice
The internet is for... TRAINS!
On a non-HSR note … have you considered offering voiceover services for other RUclips shorts channels? I dig your witty delivery of HSR news here, and I’d love to hear you narrating lines like, “Here are the 10 biggest hotels not in Las Vegas”, “The friendship between this cat and its aardvark is so heartwarming”, and “Instead of detergent in your washing machine, use ….” instead of those unconvincing A.I. voices.
No, but I'd do it, why not? :D I honestly have a terrible voice for this. My timbre is awful and so is my breath control. I also have problems with consistent volume and being able to spit out a line longer than 10 words without screwing it up. The end product you hear is HIGHLY edited.
Thank you for another great video! As a transit lover, I'm definitely excited about Brightline West. But I'm also really sad that it doesn't serve any major destinations neither in Los Angeles nor in Las Vegas. Basically, it goes from nowhere to nowhere. People still have to drive to get to/from stations or make lots of transfers. The line should go from Union Station in LA via Las Vegas Strip to Downtown (Freemont Street). In that case almost everyone would want to take it.
Well, if the socal station were in L.A. instead of Rancho Cucamonga, I wouldn't ever use it because I'm not driving all the way into L.A. for 90 minutes to get on a 2 1/2 hour train to Vegas when I could drive there in that time, so the convenience kinda depends where you live in southern California.
@@LucidStew Of course, I totally understand. It would be great to have both stations. With higher ridership, the tickets could become cheaper, too. 😉
@@CharlieWalkrich maybe Brightline West reaches LA Union Station someday, but I’d put more money on them sharing CAHSR, whether from Palmdale or if/when CAHSR’s Phase 2 route through the IE opens, than them building their own route into LA.
Their Rancho Cucamonga station does put them not just on a Metrolink line but also right by the I-10/15 interchange, which pretty much everyone driving between SoCal and Vegas will pass through, so a number of those could (and likely will) park at the BLW station and take the train the rest of the way, an easier sell than the previous XpressWest’s terminus of Victor Valley.
@@ChrisJones-gx7fc True! It's better than nothing. But still... If I have to drive, I might as well drive all the way without having to wait and transfer multiple times and taking a train that costs more than driving. For most people in Southern California, taking this train probably won't be a better alternative to driving, unfortunately.
@@LucidStewIs it possible for Brightline West to have multiple stations in greater Los Angeles, like how Brightline Florida has stops in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties before heading to Orlando? I’ve only been to Southern California three times in my life, I don’t know the human geography of L.A. that well.
1:45 conservatives will defend that ludicrous ticket price for brightline but whimper and wail about any similarly priced Amtrak services, and constantly fight against CAHSR, which might have cheaper ticket prices than that.
Great! Happy New Year, Stew.
For Brightline West, there's only one thing to say : duh...
I'm pretty sure they won't open in 2028, and probably not in 2029 either.
Given the almost comical pace of railway works in the US, this was predictable.
Even the fast building developed countries for HSR, mainly France and Spain, take about 5 to 6 years to build a high-speed line, and that's after the pre-project phase from shovels in the ground to opening.
Happy New Year! Rolling stock alone seems difficult before 2029. I'll get into this more in the video about the bond offering, but they have their schedule lined up to finish everything at the same time. They're really not playing around with wanting to get it done fast. And I do have some level of confidence in the organizational capability because the Brightline Orlando extension was pretty close to on-time. They mostly got hung up on certification there, but only by a few months.
I just want to see them truly break ground NOW on Brightline West. Getting started is a good look. Not getting started is not a good look.
I wouldn't be surprised if they're waiting on securing the remainder of their funding, which is supposed to come from private sources, before they begin full-on construction. Having to wait for funding has been the biggest delay for the California HSR project, so it would make sense if BLW wanted to avoid that by having all their funding in hand.
I also seem to recall something about them not having access to their IIJA grant until they had money to match it, or something to that effect (and I could be totally wrong about that).
@ still, they have the vast majority of funding ready to go. It’s “in the bag” in that respect. Chosen delays will just add cost and delay revenue service
I was expecting brightline west to get delayed at some point. Not that I'm not supporting the project (in fact, I'm in love with it), it's that a lot of huge projects like this seem to always get delayed. I guess better late then never.
Using the Brightline extension in Florida as an example, these are not easy to pull off. The refinancing of the Orlando debt was hailed as one of the most innovative finance jobs in any industry last year.
The biggest "news" from Brightline Florida was on December 28, 2024, when a train going 70+ mph hit a fire ladder truck that had driven around the crossing gates. Lots of video footage available. 14 people injured.
Being news that occurred in December, that would have been in the January video. However, I don't report on incursions as I'm more interested in project development and progress. There was nothing extraordinary about the fire truck incident beyond the vehicle being a fire truck. Something extra ordinary like a derailment or major structural service outage would make it in.
One minor thing you forgot is that the new portal bridge just got some of its arches installed.
I covered it in December.
What they could do as a stop gap is run trains on the freight railway from Salt Lake City to Los Vegas and then to Los angles as a stop gap and reopen the desert wind service. Some money would need to be put in but it could be done to service the summer Olympics until bright line west starts 8:15
You could do it with 5 million dollars
500,000 to each survey
1 million to track improvements
1 million to rolling stock
1/2 million to training
Quarter of a million into stations
Then the other quarter of a million into operations
3:28 That number made my head explode
I believe I saw that after the federal circuit judge put a temporary delay on the halting of federal grants, the Trump administration withdrew the EO.
EO is still active. The administration put out a memo advising how to implement the EO. That's what they withdrew.
I'm not surprised by the delay of Brightline West . I'm sure there will be more , this is California after all .As for the price as of the tickets today you can fly out of Ontario California airport to Vegas the airport is around 5 miles away from the train station in Ranch Cucamonga Ca. for $39 to $60 today one way .
It's worth mentioning that the train, even in Smart, is going to be more like business class on a plane, but yeah, it doesn't seem like these ranges would be very competitive. They might be surprised to find out what the market will actually support. There is room for them to move lower than that. I'll get into that in the video on the bond memo.
Also the flight is only 48 minutes .
@@raatoonsNot including bag check and security that could add up to 30 minutes or more depending on the time of year. Yeah, the flight is only 48 minutes but you still have to do a bunch of bull before you can even step foot on the plane.
Airline ticket prices that low on the Vegas route seems to me that the airlines are taking a flyer (oof! pun intended) on their profits in favor of customer loyalty. I think they would be rather happy to not have to fly this route once BLW starts service. No surprise if flights are drastically curtailed if not outright dropped.
@@raatoons that flight time ignores airport, security, early arrival realities. On its own, it is not a terribly useful number.
Waiting for computer upgrade details.
I put it together and it didn't work. I'm going to be returning the motherboard, but I haven't had time to deal with it the past few days.
@@LucidStew Oh, no! Best of luck with it. We all want your productivity to increase exponentially!
That Tonnellee Ave. project would make for a nice grade-separated entrance to a great big mall. But not a rail line "inside the curve" of the 1910 NEC line (which has an on-one-side-heavily offset and spiraled central radius of 2500.) From 80 to 60mph and visa versa through that curve. Greatest piece of railroad infrastructure ever till China I suppose. The new tunnel approach there IS AN INSULT. As for the Hudson Yards Box - which has inadequate access to Penn and no feasible plan to address it - it could be used to access my West Side Line under the West Side H'wy - but they already built the idiotic 11th Avenue Line connection with a 300' radius for about 60 degrees. There's nothin like that anywhere else in the 1910 station. Well there's one shtty crossover in the orig. plan. Out by that curve everthing is tangent: six tracks space 12' (not 12.5) apart so when it gets to 9th Ave (interlocking A) there's nary a jolt nor antic (and still no stop at Willimantic) Oh, and how about the Avelia Liberty trains? I think they must need to move 'em around a bit or they'll atrophy.
"Spring 2025". Could only be a couple of months. From what I've seen they more so need to move them around to keep them from being graffitied!
@@LucidStew Ohhh!
i love these updates
The idea that Brightline West might open up *slightly after* the Olympics end is such a dissapointment.
Maybe, just maybe, that preventing that embarassment could be the thing that prompts this Federal administration to invest in the train!
Or am I being too hopeful?
From what I've read their construction schedule has some wiggle room, but not that much.
Well that's Five Gold Stars right there! But don't it always seem to go that way with rail projects? (Oh the video's not delayed. Oops) Pushin' 3,000,000 riders in 2025 looks pretty good, and I see somehow this "totally private" company is getting a grade crossing removal grant? They used to have grade crossing removal districts between the wars, but I think the railroads had to pay for that. There was one here in Queens that elevated the big Jamaica station. I found out about them when I tried to stop the Newark-Elizabeth Rail Link. (Nwk "Light Rail" fmrly Nwk City Subway) They felt compelled to list the So-and-so Grade Crossing Elimination District (downtown Nwk) for environmental assessment in the DEIS then immediately issued a FONSI. Tracks right down the middle of the street again. TEXAS IDIOTS! It need not be so high. Really the right way is to just put it above and adjacent to the existing tracks without trying to make a high-speed railroad out of this section not 2000' from the (correct) station. They could always have a stop at the Conv. Center - excellent idea - but it's impossible to walk to that station from anywhere really. Part of it includes a bridge across the 20-some-lane highway. IDIOCY. The upper Main Waiting Room of that Union Station in Dallas is to die for. And having the tracks higher actually makes access from the room easier. So what if the DART sta. has to be a bit lower. I mean it might but it might not. It's always possible to get enough natural light in a situation like that. If you're not part of the cabal adherents trying to make it deliberately gloomy - and as for certain other stations... in... Ca.... and Nev... Well my psychobabble seems to be coming along but you should've read that one I mistakenly deleted about the Lincoln-Omaha line. It was very short and unintelligible. Joycean, I'd say.
I have them down for over 4 million trips this year. We'll see who is closer. :) Their financial situation as I understand it is that they have zero dollars to spend on Brightline Florida at the moment and are relying on grants and local governments until they can stabilize. It's not a half bad-model. Entities are going along with it, for now. Their revenue isn't great, but they did make a major improvement late last year by getting most of their debt out of junk bonds.
I learned something interesting yesterday doing research. According to Hunt Realty, they own the air rights for the tracks as well as all the land involved, as well as a lease for and air rights over the parking garage between the viaducts by the convention center, so they seem to be holding a solid hand in this fight.
@@LucidStew Thanks for some add'l knowledge. No, if you say 4,000,000 then I'd take that as more likely than my suggestion of 3,000,000. Maybe 4,500,000? It's good they're well-set with property in Tx. but I've never seen a single proposal for an alignment through there that I thought was even reasonable. (doesn't mean there haven't been any) They know busting through everything there to save... not a minute... doesn't get them anywhere. Reasons for why is open to speculation to be polite about it.
@ Based on the capacity expansion, I calculated it at roughly at 4.2 million, but I think they'll fall short because they didn't quite hit the 2.8 million I calculated for 2024. They could very shortly be facilitating 300,000 trips a month, though.
DFWHST is quite the fascinating project since it is an extension of a project that hasn't been built and may not be. On its own, its kind of silly, and would be even sillier if it terminated at a station that wasn't there. 😂
9:40 Avenue Q-- snort!
Does Brightline West include a track switch for the future High Desert Corridor?
That's on the HDC Joint Powers Agency, but it's planned as a phase beyond the initial construction of the HDC. If everything goes according to plan, BLW will be complete and operating by the time the HDCJPA gets to the Victor Valley station.
Hey look! A source and content made it's way into a video!
How long have you been waiting to use that Avenue Q reference lol?
I held off during the HDC video :D
They can't build an entire high-speed line with stations, overhead catenaries, power stations and transformers, training, testing, etc. in 3 years. Even for China, that's optimistic. We knew that.
Or, can they? Wait for the bond offering video to pass judgement. Maybe you will still feel the same, but there is a lot of interesting information in there.
Hopefully, as soon as Brightline West is completed, people will see the benefits of hsr and thus the newer lines will be built faster, and it will be easier to complete the entire phase 1 of cahsr. Will Brightline do 186mph or 200mph anyway?
186 is the new indicated top speed. They are now claiming the train is 200mph+ capable(and of course it is), but do not plan to run faster than 186 in service.
@@LucidStew I just checked the brightline site. They say 200mph operating speed, but someone said it was only 186mph. Are you sure about this?
@@davidsz.horvath3357 The newer information I have indicates 186, but I can not say its static, nor do I have inside knowledge of the issue. I'm basing that on information which has been recently released by BLW.
Maybe the track management wouldn't allow speeds over 186mph in most places so they'll just stick to 186mph. But it would be nice to see a round number, say 200.
@@davidsz.horvath3357 186 mph is 300 kph, for a round number. That's also a pretty standard HSR top speed (and faster than the Tokaido Shinkansen, which tops out at about 180 mph in service).
0:30 - _Railway Supply_ calls it "California High-Speed Rail" - they mean Brightline West but they ain't know it
Railway Supply boo boo
Beautiful new (?) intro
I try to change yearly. That is part of a CAHSRA render. Last year was, of course, Siemens' render of the American Pioneer 220. Unfortunately the new one isn't accompanied be the same type of awesome music. :)
Here we go
At least we hope so.
Another stews news just dropped
No more pete😔
_sad owuh-huh-hoo_
I was gonna be very surprised if it opened by 2030 lol. Not trying to be a Debby downer, but if we’re being realistic and honest about on time infrastructure projects, it rarely happens.. they’re still making some decent progress tho!
I don't see why they are throwing in the towel on a deadline that is still three years out, but saying it won't take that much longer.
The construction schedule, which is already quite aggressive, won't support it. Some of that has to do with the sequence of events that needs to take place to get the track and trainsets certified.
In time it took the good Ole USA to announce yet another delay, China just oped another 500 miles of 200mph rated track. Way to go 'murica.
Are we great again yet?
Cahsr is a good lesson on how not to fund a project well. The many environmental lawsuits and the many unsavory companies all made the project more expensive. Do you happen to know when the cahsr extension to Palmdale will be ready, or the connection with BW? cahsr will definitely need to connect San Jose and SFA after this to be profitable or at least break even.
There is no solid plan for Palmdale at the moment. The only plan currently is San Francisco after Merced-Bakersfield. However, given recent rhetoric from the Authority, this may change. If all goes according to plan, I'll have a video discussing the situation in a couple of weeks.
Do you really think CAHSR will make it? I don't see how it'll survive. Tax revenue in CA is decreasing and they won't cut other programs to cover the shortfall. Given how hard it already is to live in CA i dont think the population will tolerate more taxes to pay for this
Make it where? :D If something doesn't change in a big way I think it will limp along forever, happily consuming taxpayer dollars.
IOS is only $4 billion short. California can fund that until a more favorable administration comes in. Then hopefully the rest of the parts will be completed more quickly, including the BW Cahsr connection
@@LucidStewI assume they can finish the Merced route. But extending it to SF and LA is never gonna happen. If you have a few desert cities that noone has ever heard of connected is this thing gonna be profitable? So itll just be subsidized forever you're saying. Gee
@ Never is a long time. Something like San Francisco to Palmdale and Anaheim to Burbank in 50-60 years isn't totally unreasonable at the current pace. Closing the Burbank-Palmdale gap would take extraordinary measures. Also, by the Authority's estimates, S.F.-Bakersfield should run an operating profit.
@@davidsz.horvath3357 The problem is that "more favorable" administrations have so far only contributed $6.8 billion in 2 1/2 presidential terms. $680 million/year aint gonna cut it. It needs to be more like $6.8 billion/year.
Why are they starting the project barely this year? I thought it started in April 2024. No wonder it seems like they’re purposely delaying the construction start.
Pre-construction started April of last year. Those activities allow them to get design to a point where they're ready to build.
4:36 stews boo boo - Mispronounced Brevard County as Brevrd County
Misspellings, mispronunciations, and grammatical errors don't count in the game. That would make it too easy.
Come on, Stew! You're better than that.
It's Bre-VARD. You know, the place that sends rockets into the cosmos.
Oh, and FRA rail crossing elimination grant awarded to SCTPO will eliminate zero crossings in Brevard County. They are only putting up quad gates and medians. It's kind of a letdown.
@ noted very briefly in the video :)
@@LucidStew I see that now
Can you imagine if they came in and say. Well you can choose a few different routes and that is it. We are building. Now you ask how can I do that. Well it is better than taking property and building a parking lot for business. Also don't get me wrong. I'm all for businesses light bright line. Something like this large project. Should be something like the interstate systems. Just food for thought.
trump pausing the infrastrcuture law means passenger rail is in jepordy
At least federal money is withheld. California, on the other hand, can fund this and cahsr until a more favorable administration is in place.
5:24 The white house rescinded the EO to freeze grants days after the temporary block
They rescinded the memo that instructed how to implement the EO, but not the EO itself. It would appear they will argue that as far up as they can take it.
Trains built by Siemens? I sure hope they are better than the P2000s they built for L.A. Metro. Those were unreliable and
high maintenance. Kinki Sharyo cars are a better choice.
Any indication on California high-speed rail how the impacts of tariffs could play out. Trump has put 25% on Canada and Mexico and 10% to China. If they add Europe would that not add the cost onto purchasing the services and trainsets (especially if they are made in Germany) *moreso for the Brightline West project the last half.
Most of the projects are subject to Buy America requirements, which means the vast majority of products and sourced material has to originate in the United States. Also, civil engineering is a much larger component of overall costs, so even if the few foreign components do inflate, you're inflating the small part.
Brightline is not high speed railroading ; rather, higher speed !
It is high speed. Top speed will be 300km/h, and will exceed the commonly accepted international definition of 250km/h top speed in 4 different places.
ROFL. followed bt...............I TOLD YOU SO................
It was fairly obvious. They were talking about starting construction since late 2023. Still, I'd really, REALLY be surprised if they're operating by 12/28/28.
Govt. and big businesses are so selfish. Imagine if these rail companies had the desire to be a rail barron of years past. Shame. These people are just selfish and dont want to have an ounce of Old Time American Excellence. Makes me want to get into the industry.
This is never going to happen. People are being hyped just to pick their pockets
By the time the US gets this done? China will be operating the first 120 miles of Hyperloop at 800kmh.
Nobody is gonna run Hyperloop
@@counterfit5 Its already under construction. Their test track has already been going for two years. They have already perfected Maglev a decade ago. China graduates 10x as many scientists and engineers a year than the US does. And unlike the US? They build 4-5 universities a year as well. And in China a university education costs less than $1000 a year including books. Free if you are poor but smart enough to pass the entrance exams. The only things the US is ahead of China today is Obesity, Child poverty, Incarcerations, illiteracy and bankruptcies.
Great, now that you're done with the Chinese propaganda, can we get back to talking about high speed rail?
China would have that train running in three days.
if the US adopted China's policies, at least when it comes to labor and land rights, and the environment.
Unlike the rest of the world, Brightline only puts a signal arm on one side of the road for street grade crossings. People can easily drive around it. Everywhere else in the world there is an arm that decends on both sides of the road. Impossible to drive around. My guess is Brightline likes to bash cars and the front end of their trains.
That's common throughout the U.S.
Yeah not unexpected
The U.S. must be the only developed country in the world that doesn't want HSR🤣
At first I thought that the Brightline West was delayed because tRump pulled back the funding! 😢
Not as of yet
trump means end of us transit and passenger rail
I know Elon's in the corner foaming at the mouth to go after amtrak and such
Most transit isn't funded by the feds, let's please be realistic for a second. Maybe it's the end of federal support the but whole thing isn't going to collapse.
Transit and intercity passenger rail are treated a little differently. Neither will be defunded entirely, just as they weren't in the first Trump administration. However, transit will likely fare better.
If Brightline West is not opened for the Olympics then I've lost all interest . Somebody gotta learn how to follow a schedual if they claim to wanna be a passenger railway .
Thought there was no definite opening year or date...
@@PrograError They will loose a good opertunity if it dont .
@ as long as there's no official deadline on paper. It's only a public wish. And Wish are cheap
God I hope that brightline is not getting federal money if they are I hope DOGE tells them to kick rocks.
Brightline West already got federal money. $2.7 billion of it so far, with another $326 million coming.
@ what a waste of
@@DerkSpringer Then even the construction and maintenance of highways is a waste.
@ I personally think the only roads the government should maintain are the municipal roads in cities. The entire interstate system should be privatized and turned into toll roads. I’m a trucker and I’d be willing to pay a toll for faster speeds ans better quality roads plus lower my gas tax.
@@DerkSpringer Understandable. However, in states with large populations, such as California, high-speed rail will become increasingly necessary due to population growth. I wish to build such a system. Especially in California, where nothing goes smoothly. However, if it is completed, it will, among other things, reduce traffic on the highways, which can also be quite useful for you. Also, since the traffic is reduced, the maintenance costs of the highways are also reduced. You can benefit from it too. We should build these systems just for this.
Thanks!
Thank you! We're looking great on channel goals currently, and a bonus is that a recently power station(for blackouts) will make things easier for me on BLW Vegas trips when covering construction. I have my fingers crossed on those starting in the next couple of months.