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Brightline's high-speed LA-to-Las Vegas rail project scores $3 billion in federal funding
(www.statesman.com)
this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2023
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Mixed ownership of rail isn't uncommon in the world, but yeah its a bit shit.
As a counter point, Brightline is basically the only private company to stand up a successful US commuter rail line in decades, so it makes sense to give them a boost here.
Somebody needs to build that fucking train, and they built one like it in rail hostile florida. That one is diesel because "reasons" but this one will be a sane electric.
There was a plan for actual HSR in Florida using the same ROW as Brightline. It was torpedoed by former governor and current senator Rick Scott. They sent money back to the Obama administration both because they didn't want the Democrats to get a win and also because of their privatization/kickback fetish.
Same exact thing happened in Ohio in 2010, Kasich sent the money back.
Also in Wisconsin
If the taxpayer is providing them with serious capital infusion, why is taxpayer not taking equity position in the venture?
It's called subsidizing, and it's used by governments to encourage projects that will provide a public good. While I agree that it would be ideal if the rail infrastructure was owned and operated by public organizations rather than corporations, we still get many of the benefits of the new infrastructure with much less of the costs (to the budget directly).
I would also be very surprised if the 3b didn't come with some additional requirements that Brightline has to meet. The government is not in the business of making money, so an equity stake is way less valuable than being able to force the company to do certain things.
You mean like they force freight rail companies to give priority to Amtrak?
Asking for a friend