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Brightline Revises One-Way Fare for LA to Vegas High Speed Train

Posted on: January 22, 2025, 01:04h.

Last updated on: January 23, 2025, 08:11h.

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Corey Levitan Corey Levitan joined Casino.org in 2022 after a long career covering Las Vegas. He currently covers entertainment, dining and gaming news in Las Vegas...
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Last March, Brightline founder Wes Edens told the L.A. Times that his company “will eventually charge more than $400 for a round trip from Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga.” This stoked anger and disbelief among its potential customers.

A rendering of a Brightline West train, which will advertise itself by zooming at up to 200 mph past Interstate 15 motorists who seek a faster trip to Las Vegas next time. (Image: Brightline)

That estimate has since been lowered. According to paperwork filed for a new $2.5 billion bond offering, Brightline now projects a standard-class one-way ticket to cost $119, with a premium cabin only $14 more. That’s as of 2031, which the filing called the system’s first “stabilized” year of service.

The bond offering consists of $1.85 billion in private activity bonds from California and $625 million from Nevada, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, with Morgan Stanley underwriting the bond sales.

Slow Train Coming

Construction on the $12.4 billion line is expected to begin in the next few weeks. But Brightline has abandoned its initial hope of opening it in time for the 2028 Summer Olympics in LA, admitting that service won’t begin until at least December 2028.

Standard coach seating is shown aboard the Brightline West’s American Pioneer 220 train. (Image Brightline West)

The train will travel 218 miles on the median of Interstate 15 at speeds of up to 200 mph, making the trip in about two hours. The Southern California terminus will drop passengers in Rancho Cucamonga, where light rail connections can carry them the 37 additional miles southwest to downtown LA, which for most people will take about an hour.

That will make the trip about three hours each way, about the same as flying for passengers who arrive at the airport an hour ahead of their flight.

Brightline West plans to feature 35 hourly departures every day.

A Las Vegas terminus will be constructed by McCarthy Building Co. on Las Vegas Boulevard near Blue Diamond Road. Although that’s 2.5 miles south of the Las Vegas Strip, ride-hailing services, resort shuttles, and car rentals will be accessible at the station.

Additional stations are planned in Hesperia and the Victor Valley in California.

Brightline projects its high-speed rail to generate $1.1 billion in ticket revenue in 2031.

Corey Levitan joined Casino.org in 2022 after a long career covering Las Vegas. He currently covers entertainment, dining and gaming news in Las Vegas.

Corey spent six years covering the Vegas Strip for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, where he also wrote the most popular humor column in the city’s history. (For “Fear and Loafing,” he tried out 176 Vegas jobs, including poker player, blackjack dealer and Follie Bergere dancer.)

Corey has won more than 100 local, state and national awards for his journalism, which has also appeared in Rolling Stone, New York Magazine and the New York Post.

Corey is a New York native whose hobbies include playing guitar, trying to be a better husband, and arguing with strangers on Facebook.

Contact Corey at corey@casino.org.

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Rob R. Ree February 11, 2025

Once the train approaches Vegas, there are existing tracks that run roughly parallel to the Strip all the way past the resort area to downtown… Once the train approaches Vegas, there are existing tracks that run roughly parallel to the Strip all the way past the resort area to downtown Vegas. It's interesting those urban tracks, which I know wouldn't be high-speed, aren't part of these plans.

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Jesus January 24, 2025

These are all investors finding ways to bring in lies into half a$$ realistic ventures with tax dollars and putting billions in their pockets. The… These are all investors finding ways to bring in lies into half a$$ realistic ventures with tax dollars and putting billions in their pockets. The Florida bright line is a joke as well. It's simple hire a company from Europe to make it happen here.

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Jerry January 23, 2025

The Bart train system should have been expanded to Sacramento and down the I- 5 and maybe down near 99 to Bakersfield and then to… The Bart train system should have been expanded to Sacramento and down the I- 5 and maybe down near 99 to Bakersfield and then to Vegas. A a connecting line from rancho to Bart for that area. Bart was built yet limited. Bart could have come out of Morgan Hill to the I-5.

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Christopher January 23, 2025

I can’t believe how poorly conceived this project is. I grew up in So Cal and live in the Las Vegas area now. Even with… I can’t believe how poorly conceived this project is. I grew up in So Cal and live in the Las Vegas area now. Even with the price reduction, I can’t see why anyone would pay $238 (plus tax) round trip to ride the train for 2 hrs to Rancho Cucamonga, then take another train for an hour to L.A. Oh, and if you’re coming from L.A., you get to either brave traffic to RC (which should be fun on a Friday night when nearly everyone goes to Vegas) or take the slow train there. And what will the slow train’s schedule be? Will you get off one and jump right on another? Extremely doubtful. L.A. isn’t that organized and never has been. Once you get to Vegas you still have to rent a car, or take a taxi/ride share to the strip or downtown. Meanwhile, I buy a round trip ticket on Southwest for about the same money, drive or ride share to the airport and get dropped off at LAX in about an hour. The choice is obvious, unless you are deathly afraid of flying or you live in the Inland Empire Get that round trip ticket price down to $150 and you might have a chance at long term success. Now let’s talk about construction…building a track on the median of I-15?! I can’t imagine what that’s going to do to the already crazy traffic on that route. Construction equipment, cones and rubber neckers should make it a real party. Good luck with all that.

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John Patrick Maginnis January 23, 2025

This is the BIGGEST BOONDOGGLE IN CALIFORNIA HISTORY. TIME TO RECALL THE TWO BIGGEST POLITICAL LOSERS IN CALIFORNIA HISTORY: BASS & GRUESOME NEWSOM. BRING IN… This is the BIGGEST BOONDOGGLE IN CALIFORNIA HISTORY. TIME TO RECALL THE TWO BIGGEST POLITICAL LOSERS IN CALIFORNIA HISTORY: BASS & GRUESOME NEWSOM. BRING IN BYD AND MONORAILS NOW. Monorails all over SoCal are the replacement for the red line the politicians in LA got bribed to shut down. Time to elect Casey Wasserman as LA Mayor, and Rick Caruso as Governor. He ran his own private fire department. Bass & Newsom fiddled like Nero as LA County BURNED. THROW THE BUMS OUT.

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Yourwrong January 23, 2025

Jason, you might be able to math but you don’t know anything about California and maps. “Why can’t is just go up to San Francisco…..… Jason, you might be able to math but you don’t know anything about California and maps. “Why can’t is just go up to San Francisco….. uhhhh because that’s a 4 hours away at 200mph in a straight line lol. It’s also where the ca high speed is being built and look at the speed of that project and tell me that would be a good business choice lol. That is the most uneducated train comment I have ever seen. Why I 15 is so interesting to them is it’s all flat and ready to be built on. Won’t take years and years if approval. As for not going into down town, California has these things called mountains… you can look them up on the Google. That means the HIGHSPEED train could no longer go HIGHSPEED at that point. Making the cheaper light rail a better option as not everyone is going to down town. From the last bright line station people will go in all different directions based on where they live. People have no concept as to how big ca actually is…. So they shouldn’t speak up!

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Hillarie January 23, 2025

That's what they've already received. The beginning of the article states they have just filed for an additional new $2.5 billion bond.

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Miguel January 23, 2025

@Jaxon The $11 billion also includes the $2.5 billion in bonds mentioned earlier in the article but not in the final paragraph. $120 ticket seems alright,… @Jaxon The $11 billion also includes the $2.5 billion in bonds mentioned earlier in the article but not in the final paragraph. $120 ticket seems alright, too bad this will happen well after I leave Las Vegas. I'm guessing the amount needed to build out to downtown LA would be significantly higher as well as needing more time and approval. Rancho Cucamonga seems alright for the start/stop since it is a hub to other metro rail lines as well as an international airport, which is significantly better than LAX.

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Jaxon January 22, 2025

Is my math not mathing? 5.5 + 3 = 8.5, not 11, correct? I also understand that CAL wants to dominate the rail travel business,… Is my math not mathing? 5.5 + 3 = 8.5, not 11, correct? I also understand that CAL wants to dominate the rail travel business, but for Brightline to end at Rancho Cucamonga, and then have to spend another hour on another train, just to get to DTLA, seems stupid. Why couldn't Brightline just continue into LA? Same goes for going up to San Francisco?

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