LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Brightline West is in the middle of finalizing $6 billion of bank loans and contracts with construction companies for its $12 billion, 218-mile Las Vegas-Southern California high speed rail venture after selling more than $2.5 billion in private activity bonds, according to Tracy Larkin-Thomason, Director of Nevada’s Department of Transportation.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that Larkin-Thomason recently told a DOT board meeting, “The bond sale was actually oversold by a billion dollars.” She says it was successful because of a favorable interest rate for investors compared with other financial opportunities.
The money raised through the recent bond sales in Nevada and California, along with a $3 billion Federal Railroad Administration grant reimbursing expenses as they are incurred, help provide collateral for the loans that will sustain Brightline West through at least four years of construction before operations begin generating revenue.
News Wire examined the proposed route in the median of Interstate 15 from the south end of the Las Vegas Strip to Metrolink’s Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., station earlier this year [see “Following the route of Brightline West,” News Wire Feb. 4, 2025]
The uncertain effect of Trump Administration-imposed tariffs may weaken stock market investment, allowing bonds paying higher rates of return to be perceived as more attractive. But elevated raw material prices could potentially make construction more expensive than the company originally projected.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy expressed the administration’s support of Brightline West in a late February media event in Los Angeles to criticize California’s high-speed project.
Duffy’s assertion — “I’m not opposed to high-speed rail. The project from L.A. to Las Vegas … appears to be on budget, on time. Those are the projects that I think taxpayers are willing to invest in” — no doubt helped allay possible bond investor concerns.
Although a Nevada DOT senior project manager speculated in early February that right-of-way construction would start by early April [see “Brightline West construction should start …,” News Wire, Feb. 10, 2025], financing and construction contracts must be in place before funding is released.
With financing negotiations continuing, the company declined News Wire’s request for additional details at this time.
