Project to link Vegas and California with train gets boost
(AP) — A project to link Las Vegas and Southern California with a high-speed train got a boost this week when the newly formed Nevada High-Speed Rail Authority approved an exclusive relationship with long-suffering XpressWest.
The panel's move Wednesday to select the company as a franchisee — and sideline other futuristic yet far-fetched transportation concepts floated to the group — adds a layer of government legitimacy to the endeavor that could help it attract investors and get closer to breaking ground.
[...] with no state dollars attached, the decision doesn't directly address the project's most glaring missing link — billions of dollars.
XpressWest's project comes against the backdrop of a pricey and increasingly unpopular high-speed rail project in California, which is partly funded by $10 billion in bonds taxpayers approved in 2008.
The project is facing lawsuits and is behind schedule, and the price tag has ballooned to $68 billion, driven by the complex task of boring tunnels through earthquake fault-laden mountains in Southern California.