AmeriStarRail pitches coast-to-coast high-speed rail project, with High Desert stops

USA Today

07-07-2025

Move over Brightline West, transportation company AmeriStarRail has pitched a Los Angeles to New York high-speed rail project, which would travel through the High Desert.
The Delaware-based company proposed its high-speed rail project dubbed the 'Transcontinental Chief' to the longtime passenger rail company Amtrak, according to Newsweek.
AmeriStarRail inked its proposal in June to Amtrak President Roger Harris about the possible joint venture connecting both coasts in under 72 hours.
The project would include dozens of stops, including Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Victorville, Barstow, the Grand Canyon, Kansas City, Chicago and New York.
The AmeriStarRail system would use existing infrastructure from host railroads, including BNSF, Norfolk Southern and New Jersey Transit, Newsweek reported.
Many variables
Victorville Mayor Elizabeth Becerra told the Daily Press on Wednesday that there are 'a lot of variables' to work through before the proposed project sees approval.
'It sounds like a great idea, but they'll have to deal with things like train schedules, permission to use BNSF tracks, funding, construction of a new station and a mountain of regulations,' Becerra. 'If they plan to bring the project through Victorville, I hope they let us sit down at the discussion table.'
The current Amtrak schedule shows a train passing through the High Desert twice a day.
Operational by 2026?
AmeriStarRail explained that the goal of the project includes having trains operational by May 10, 2026, in time for the FIFA World Cup and the United States' 250th anniversary celebrations, according to Newsweek.
The rail system would use existing TTX flatcars and auto carriers, along with Amtrak locomotives and passenger cars. It would also be on a route that is mostly double track, according to Trains Magazine.
'The Transcontinental Chief will be a great opportunity for Amtrak to team up with the private sector to confront the challenges of its money-losing long-distance trains and create opportunities to usher in a profitable Golden Age of rail travel for passengers and truckers, with the ingenuity of free enterprise, as we celebrate our great nation's 250th birthday next year,' the AmeriStarRail letter stated.
Amtrak has yet to respond to AmeriStarRail and has not acted on previous pitches made by the company, Newsweek reported.
The proposed route would replace Amtrak's Southwest Chief Line, which runs from Los Angeles to Chicago. Additionally, the Pennsylvanian Line on the East Coast.
Brightline West
One high-speed rail project in California includes Brightline West's 218-mile rail line between Las Vegas and Rancho Cucamonga, with stops in Apple Valley and Hesperia.
The Brightline West track will primarily run along the Interstate 15 median. Trains capable of reaching 186 mph or more will cut the trip between Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga to two hours – half the time to travel by car, the company said.
Brightline West's $12 billion high-speed rail project will be a fully electric, zero-emission system to become one of the greenest forms of transportation in the U.S.
Field testing has continued after Brightline West hosted a groundbreaking for its high-speed rail system in Las Vegas in April 2024.
In February 2025, Nevada Department of Transportation officials were told by Brightline officials that construction of the rail project would begin within the next two months.
California High-Speed Rail Authority
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump said the government would not fund the California High-Speed Rail Authority's project that would connect Los Angeles to San Francisco.
Nearly17 years after California voters initially approved a bond to help fund its construction, the project's main focus is now a Merced to Bakersfield railway with an expected operational date between 2030 and 2033, the Fresno Bee reported.
Railway News reported that while the California High-Speed Rail project has faced delays, cost overruns, and political scrutiny, the San Francisco Bay Area continues to ready itself to become a vital terminus.
Despite the controversy surrounding the project, regional leaders are steadily preparing infrastructure for its arrival.
During the American Public Transportation Association's High-Speed Rail Seminar, Andrew Fremier, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, asserted that the agency remains fully committed to bringing the California High-Speed Rail project to San Francisco and believes that it can be feasibly brought forward in increments.
Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at [e-mail]. Follow him on X @DP_ReneDeLaCruz