The Nevada High-Speed Rail Authority held its first meeting at the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada headquarters on September 19 but already is lagging on naming a franchisee.
The Nevada Legislature last year created the rail authority via Senate Bill 457, which Governor Brian Sandoval signed in May to facilitate eventual construction of a high-speed rail line connecting Las Vegas to Southern California.
Its first board appointments are Regional Transportation Commission Director Tina Quigley, UNLV Associate Professor Hualing “Harry” Teng, Bank of America Merrill Lynch Executive Vice President George Smith, Thomas & Mack Managing Partner Peter Thomas, and Black Mountain Research principal and transportation analyst Fred Dilger.
The board’s first task is to choose a franchisee to construct and maintain the high-speed rail line, which state guidelines required to be done by October 1, but the board only was announced in mid September.
Thus far, XpressWest has the inside track on being named the franchisee, and since 2010 has worked on plans to build a high-speed rail system capable of sustained speeds of at least 150 mph and connecting Las Vegas to Victorville, California, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported. That’s still far from Los Angeles, and future plans are expected to be announced.
The enabling legislation calls for a traditional train rolling on steel wheels rather than a magnetic-levitation train that uses maglev technology.
