High Speed Rail Between Phoenix and Las Vegas? - U.S. HSR City Pair Route Investigation

4:15 It is actually AZ-101

There's a study from the FRA back in 2014 that is an interesting read called the Southwest High Speed Rail study. In it it suggests a HSR network in the southwest should start with LA to Vegas, SF, and possibly Phoenix. Then from there possibly Vegas to Phoenix and SF to Reno. When there's a network it suggests possibly adding Albuquerque or Salt Lake. Coming from Salt Lake, that makes sense since we don't even have an Amtrak route to LA. But in the long term it would be interesting.

If you were to link San Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose, the Central Valley, Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Tucson, you'd have an area the size of Spain but with more people who also have more money.

Brightline West, should make a triangle LA 2 LV 2 PHX 2 LA.

as a Phoenix resident, i can tell you nobody will miss wickenberg if we have to destroy it for a high speed rail

This was a great pie-in-the-sky video. Very fun. I've lived in AZ and LA and been to Vegas a lot. There was no way because of the geography. Not to mention that in 30-40 years, those cities may be abandoned because of NO MORE WATER. That being said, I would LOVE for you to do a high speed train from LA to Phoenix with a station in Palm Springs and Quartzite using the I-10 corridor. There isn't any passenger service to Phoenix currently which sucks. Only Tucson and Flagstaff. I wish there was in-state rail between Tucson-Phoenix-Prescott-Sedona-Flagstaff. That would be awesome! But MOUNTAINS. LOL!

I’ve done this route in NIMBY Rails (Great game for transit proposals btw) I think it would have been better if you linked up the the Brightline station for useful connections into SoCal. I personally think Phoenix to LA would be the more feasible line in terms of ridership. This is something Brightline has talked about . It’s also worth mentioning the the line should continue down to Tucson as this is a connection the state has talked a lot about in the recent years

Looks like HSR from Phoenix to Rancho would be the best option, even if travel time to Vegas would be on the slow side. Provides more connection options with BLW and eventually California HSR (lol)

Fantastic as always! Can’t wait for more!

Great research on this video. I agree with your conclusion, the direct route between Phoenix and Vegas is just too expensive. Heck, there's a reason there's no interstate between them to date. I'd love to see a high-speed line that connects to a midpoint on Brightline West to give Phoenix high speed access to two metros, but with the land restrictions in southern California, that's a pipe dream. Would love to see a video on potential PHX to LA routes!

Great video and really interesting. Couldn't help but considering routing it to stop in Wickenburg, Kingman and Laughlin/Bullhead City or extending it on both ends to Tucson and Reno. I know the price is pretty high but with how much the population is growing in these cities and the tourism and economic potential of the metro corridors (Phoenix-Las Vegas, Phoenix-Tucson, and Las Vegas-Reno) it could be a worthwhile investment for Nevada and Arizona.

would love to see a hsr route between Scranton PA and NYC! Perhaps with service continuing on to Buffalo or Pittsburgh!

You mean AZ Loop 101. U.S.101 is in California, Oregon & Washington State that is shared with I-5 from the Mexican border at San Ysidro to Los Angeles where it splits, U.S.10@ goes along the California Coast & Salinas River Valley through the San Francisco metro area, crosses the Golden Gate Bridge and follows close to the Pacific Ocean and the Redwood forest region.

Thank you for the video. See you in the beautiful airports!

As long as we're doing pipe dreams, I would love to see a CAHSR to Cascadia HSR connection!

09:10 If the train is going to be passing by anyway, I say we build a Hoover Dam/Lake Mead Station. The Hoover Dam is a major tourist attraction in Nevada, with millions of visitors annually. A rail link between Las Vegas & the Dam could take a lot of tour buses off of the road

This sounds so cool 😎

I know you're focusing on U.S. corridors but I would love to see this type of detailed analysis on the Toronto - Montreal corridor! Or the broader Windsor - Quebec City corridor in general. Currently the route is not high speed and goes through Kingston but VIA is looking at an alternate alignment through Peterborough that would not be shared with freight. Keep up the great videos!

Very cool videos. Greetings from Germany

Lmao "nothing" ...Also, thank you for mentioning Cascadia in last weeks episode. Looking forward to your monthly updates as a new subscriber. Cheers!!!🍻