Billionaire Breaks Ground On The U.S.'S First High-Speed Rail

Forbes

Wes Edens has broken ground on Brightline West, his $12 billion Las Vegas-to-SoCal railway, aided by billions from the Biden Administration. But building more high-speed lines like this one won’t be easy.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2024/04/23/in-las-vegas-a-billionaires-blueprint-for-building-bullet-trains/?sh=2baad0ba64ac  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00 Here's your Forbes daily briefing for Saturday, April 27th.

00:05 Today on Forbes, billionaire breaks ground on the U.S.'s first high-speed rail.

00:12 Under a blazing morning Las Vegas sun, billionaire Wes Edens and Transportation Secretary Pete

00:18 Buttigieg threw a party last Monday to mark the start of construction of Brightline West,

00:23 the first private high-speed railway in the U.S., driving yellow spikes into a section

00:27 of track.

00:29 Now comes the hard part.

00:31 The $12 billion project is three years behind his original schedule, delayed by the pandemic

00:36 and final environmental approvals.

00:39 But if construction goes as fast as the billionaire co-founder of Fortress Investment Group promises,

00:44 it'll open in time to speed travelers across the desert at 200 miles per hour from Sin

00:49 City to Southern California, in time for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

00:55 Edens told Forbes, "The timeline is both realistic and achievable.

01:00 The impact of this is going to be long-lasting and prodigious.

01:04 And I want it to be successful because I want the next one and the next one and the next

01:08 one to happen."

01:11 If he manages to build it on time and within budget, the 218-mile project from Las Vegas

01:16 to Rancho Cucamonga, a small city east of Los Angeles linked to the sprawling metropolis

01:21 by a commuter rail line, could be a catalyst for high-speed trains in the U.S.

01:27 It's on a fast construction schedule to open years ahead of the $128 billion high-speed

01:32 train line California began building almost a decade ago, and that won't connect San Francisco

01:37 to Los Angeles until the 2040s.

01:41 Brightline, which also operates a Florida railway between Orlando and Miami, expects

01:46 11 million one-way passengers a year to use the electric train, estimating it will slash

01:51 travel time between L.A. and Las Vegas to three hours or less versus five hours or more

01:56 by car.

01:58 And it's intended to do so with dramatically lower carbon emissions by being all-electric.

02:03 The company estimates the railway will cut an estimated 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide

02:08 by eliminating three million car trips annually between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

02:14 Secretary Buttigieg told Forbes, "I believe that when this project is complete, it's going

02:20 to open the floodgates for American expectations around high-speed rail.

02:24 This is important because it establishes that it can be done here in Las Vegas, and it can

02:29 be done here in the United States of America."

02:33 The groundbreaking site, a scrubby, empty desert lot next to the 15 freeway and near

02:38 the Las Vegas Strip, will be home to Brightline West's main station, as well as future retail

02:43 and residential projects Eden's envisions.

02:46 He said, "It'll be unrecognizable if you come back in a few years."

02:53 That's thanks in part to one of its major backers, the train-loving Biden administration.

02:58 Late last year, the administration awarded Brightline West a $3 billion grant out of

03:03 its $1 trillion 2021 infrastructure law.

03:07 And in January, it also provided $2.5 billion in public activity bonds, a tax-exempt financing

03:14 option for major private projects that benefit the public.

03:18 Including a previous $1 billion private activity bond Brightline West got during the Trump

03:23 administration, more than half of the project's cost, $6.5 billion, is covered with some form

03:30 of federal support.

03:32 Ben Porat, a Brightline senior vice president, said that the remaining $5.5 billion has been

03:37 raised privately with "equity and other debt mechanisms."

03:42 Porat declined to identify private investors.

03:45 Edens, who Forbes estimates is worth $3.9 billion and co-owns the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks

03:52 and Aston Villa FC soccer team, is also investing his own money in the project.

03:58 He said, "I've actually put my money where my mouth is.

04:01 I've been investing in this project for a very long time."

04:06 For full coverage, see our in-depth video interview with Wes Edens and U.S. Transportation

04:11 Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and check out Alan Onsman's piece on Forbes.com.

04:18 This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:20 Thanks for tuning in.

04:21 -

04:27 (upbeat music)

04:30 (upbeat music)

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