Super-speed train might be two years away

Wednesday, April 4, 2001 | 11:18 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A ride aboard the proposed 240-mph super-speed train from Las Vegas to Southern California might be more exciting than the roller coaster atop the Stratosphere hotel-casino, says Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas.

Titus told the Senate Transportation Committee Tuesday that officials in two years should finally be able to break ground on the first 40-mile leg of the project between Las Vegas and Primm. That trip would take seven minutes, she said.

Titus appeared before the committee in support of Senate Bill 323 to permit the California-Nevada Super Speed Ground Transportation Commission to issue bonds to help finance construction. The bonds, the amounts of which were not included in the bill, would be repaid from fares, advertisement and other revenues.

Bill Monahan, planning director for the California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission, also was upbeat about the prospects for funding and building the high-speed rail to Primm.

He said significant federal legislative support exists for the proposal, which backers envision will ultimately run all the way to the Los Angeles area. Backers hope to have money for the project -- estimated to cost $1.3 billion just for the Las Vegas to Primm section -- included in future federal budgets.

Their enthusiasm comes despite a decision in January by then U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater to deny the project a share of nearly $1 billion in federal funding for a high-speed rail system. The Transportation Department instead backed proposals in Pittsburgh or Baltimore.

Some federal funding, however, continues to flow to the local project. The Federal Railroad Administration is supplying $1 million for continued work on the project.

The federal grant requires a $500,000 local match, which Monahan said will come from federal clean-air funds transferred to the Regional Transportation Commission.

Titus, a member of the California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission, said the project "is finally becoming a reality."

Monahan said the bond legislation in Carson City would be one part of a much larger funding package that would include federal, state and local participation.

"It's one of the arrows in our quiver," he said.

If the project "goes under" the state would not be responsible for paying off the bond-holders. What's more, the bonds would not count toward the state's 2 percent limitation on assessed valuation, Titus said.

Sen. Maurice Washington, R-Sparks, questioned whether the California half of the commission was receiving money from the Legislature in that state. Titus said the California contingent has lobbied the Legislature but has not sought money.

These bonds, Titus said, would show the federal government Nevada has made a commitment to the mag-lev train. And that might help in securing more federal money.

The train would run along the right-of-way adjacent to Interstate 15, and it would end at Anaheim, Calif. Jack Jeffrey, a member of the commission, said the only items to be purchased would be the terminals.

The timing is right, said Titus, because, of the proliferation of gaming, the growing energy crisis. It also would take cars off the road and reduce air pollution. She noted the route was close to the largest population market from which Las Vegas draws tourists.

The committee took the testimony under study.