In what must be considered a positive development for expanding high speed rail in the US, the route between Los Angeles and Las Vegas has been designated a federal high speed rail corridor. Transportation secretary Ray LaHood announced on the 2nd of July that the route to Las Vegas would be an extension to the California High Speed Rail Corridor, thus making it eligible for federal funding.

The line would most likely put the dagger in the Maglev rail project that has gone nowhere over the past thirty years. Despite that project being backed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and President Obama, the Maglev has always been stalled because of cost concerns. A more cost effective high speed rail service via an electrified system that is connected to nearly the whole of California is something the residents of Nevada would be keen to see.

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Of all the lines in the envisioned US high speed rail network, California is the one with the most momentum behind it. The state has started to fund the line that is designed to take passengers from San Francisco to Los Angeles in two and a half hours. Money is the biggest obstacle to realizing America’s rail modernization, but California is countering this problem by showing the value added these trains will bring to the state.

Concerns over cost is the principle argument against high speed rail in the US, but independent economic studies done on the feasibility of the project show that the line will generate $1 billion in surplus revenue annually after completion. Start-up costs for this infrastructure in the nation’s most populous state are estimated to be roughly half of what it would cost not to build the route. Highway and airport expansion would be much more costly and detrimental to the environment. These facts are pushing California to have the nation’s first true high speed rail at the current pace of development.

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