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Work is set to begin April 22 on a $12 billion high-speed passenger rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area, with officials projecting millions of ticket-buyers will be boarding trains by 2028.

Brightline West, whose sister company聽already operates a fast train聽between Miami and Orlando in Florida, aims to lay 218 miles of new track between a terminal to be built just south of the Las Vegas Strip and another new facility in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Almost the full distance is to be built in the median of Interstate 15, with a station stop in San Bernardino County鈥檚 Victorville area.

In a statement, Brightline Holdings founder and Chairperson Wes Edens called the moment 鈥渢he foundation for a new industry.鈥�

Brightline aims to link other U.S. cities that are too near to each other for flying between them to make sense and too far for people to drive the distance, Mr. Edens said.

CEO Mike Reininger has said the goal is to have trains operating in time for the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is scheduled to take part in the April 22 groundbreaking. Brightline received $6.5 billion in backing from the Biden administration, including a聽$3 billion grant聽from federal infrastructure funds and聽approval to sell聽another $2.5 billion in tax-exempt bonds. The company won federal authorization in 2020 to sell $1 billion in similar bonds.

The project is touted as the first true high-speed passenger rail line in the nation, designed to reach speeds of 186 mph, comparable to聽Japan鈥檚 Shinkansen聽bullet trains.

The route between Vegas and L.A. is largely open space, with no convenient alternate to I-15. Brightline鈥檚 Southern California terminal will be at a commuter rail connection to downtown Los Angeles.

The聽project outline聽says electric-powered trains will cut the four-hour trip across the Mojave Desert to a little more than two hours. Forecasts are for 11 million one-way passengers per year, or some 30,000 per day, with fares well below airline travel costs. The trains will offer rest rooms, Wi-Fi, food and beverage sales, and the option to check luggage.

Las Vegas is a popular driving destination for Southern Californians. Officials hope the train line will relieve congestion on I-15, where motorists often sit in miles of crawling traffic while returning home from a Las Vegas weekend.

The Las Vegas area, now approaching 3 million residents, draws more than 40 million visitors per year. Passenger traffic at the city鈥檚 Harry Reid International Airport set a record of 57.6 million people in 2023. An average of more than聽44,000 automobiles per day聽crossed the California-Nevada state line on I-15 in 2023, according to Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority data.

Florida-based Brightline Holdings already operates the聽Miami-to-Orlando line聽with trains reaching speeds up to 125 mph. It launched service in 2018 and expanded service to Orlando International Airport last September. It offers 16 round-trips per day, with one-way tickets for the 235-mile distance costing about $80.

Other fast trains in the U.S. include Amtrak鈥檚 Acela, which can top 150 mph while sharing tracks with freight and commuter service between Boston and Washington, D.C.

Ideas for connecting other U.S. cities with high-speed passenger trains have been floated in recent years, including聽Dallas to Houston;聽Atlanta to Charlotte, North Carolina; and聽Chicago to St. Louis. Most have faced delays.

In California, voters in 2008 approved a proposed 500-mile rail line linking Los Angeles and San Francisco, but the plan has been beset by聽rising costs and routing disputes. A 2022 business plan by the California High-Speed Rail Authority projected the聽cost had more than tripled聽to $105 billion.

This story was reported by The Associated Press.聽