UNITED STATES—It has certainly been a long time coming, but it won’t be very long now until the high-speed rail service from San Francisco to Los Angeles finally becomes operational.

However, for those wishing to travel further afield and those who would prefer to visit Las Vegas by train, rather than drive or fly there, an additional service is being planned that will connect Los Angeles with Vegas.

Having just secured agreements with several labor unions, Brightline are pleased to announce they are on schedule to build up to a 260-mile rail track to connect those two major cities.

In a move that will also please those worried about climate change, the new trains on that rail service will all be zero-emission ones. Not only that, but when the service does go live it has been estimated that it will save over 12 million vehicle trips to Vegas.

However, it will take quite some time to build the infrastructure needed, and it’s being estimated that the service should, all being well, be operational in the latter part of 2027.

Brightline claim the following benefits will be forthcoming with the launch of this rail service:

  • 40,000 Construction Jobs
  • $10 Billion in Economic Benefits
  • 3 Million Cars Journeys Saved Each Year
  • 1,000 Permanent Brightline Jobs
  • $1 Billion in Estimated Tax Revenue
  • Zero Emission Trains

As for whether people will prefer traveling by train as opposed to flying or even driving to Vegas remains to be seen, but it will be good to have a rail option when the service does go live.

It does have to be said though, that many people throughout the U.S. have completely changed the way they gamble these days, with more and more of them choosing to gamble online or via a mobile device, rather than visit land based casino resorts.

Lockdowns have of course been one of the main reasons why gamblers discovered online gaming, and there are no shortages of casino and gambling related sister sites that offer every type of game of chance available, including but not limited to casino, bingo, and poker games.

In fact, it is easy for anybody who wants to place a sports bet to do so online, but ultimately whilst some States have embraced online and mobile gambling, some haven’t, so it will all be dependent where you live and are based as to whether you can legally gamble online.

I suspect though, it will ultimately come down to reliability of that planned rail service coupled with the cost of tickets that will determine whether it will achieve its financial estimates.

But with Harry Reid International Airport expected to be at full capacity sooner rather than later and with casino resorts charging ever-rising fees for parking, and with the cost of gas also rising, traveling to Vegas by train is certainly going to appeal to a great number of people.

What are your thoughts on getting to Vegas by train, would it be something you are interested in doing? Well, in a few years, that option will be available to you if you are in San Francisco.