Inland Empire officials are touting the Brightline West bullet train project linking Southern Nevada and Southern California as a “catalyst” for the region’s economy.

Officials from the City of Rancho Cucamonga, Metrolink, Omnitrans and others gathered Monday at Cucamonga Station – the southernmost terminus for the train – to give further details about the project, which is expected to break ground in 2024.

“This will support an estimated 11,000 jobs for construction of the high-speed rail line,” Rancho Cucamonga Assistant City Manager Elisa Cox said. “This is just a piece of the much larger collaborative effort to make the Inland Empire a global connection point.”

The line will connect more than 200 miles between Las Vegas and Rancho Cucamonga and will take about two hours to travel.

President Joe Biden announced a $3 billion federal grant supporting the project in Las Vegas last week.

The railway will mark the “first world-class high-speed rail project in the nation,” Biden said.

Brightline West previously agreed to finance $10 billion of the estimated $12 billion project.

Connecting Las Vegas and Southern California by high-speed rail will create tens of thousands of good-paying union jobs, boost our Southern Nevada tourism economy, and finally help us cut down on I-15 traffic,” said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto after Biden’s announcement.

Cortez Masto says the project could eliminate about 3 million cars from Interstate 15 every year, while creating about 35,000 “good-paying union jobs.”

White House officials say should be finished in time for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

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