Biden to Unveil $8.2 Billion in Funding for High-Speed Train Projects

President Joe Biden on Friday was set to announce $8.2 billion in funding for 10 passenger rail projects, The Hill reported.

Included in the funding, part of Biden’s $1.2 trillion spending package, is a high-speed rail system connecting Nevada and California. The goal is to cut in half the driving trip from Las Vegas to the Los Angeles area and make the rail trip little more than two hours.

The Biden administration also is putting money toward California’s state-run bullet train and a quicker rail connection from Richmond, Virginia, to Raleigh, North Carolina, Route Fifty reported.

“Any American who has traveled to other countries has likely seen how countries in Europe and East Asia approach passenger rail,” Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg said, The Hill reported. “[They] return home to wonder why Americans can’t have that, too.”

Biden was traveling to Las Vegas on Friday and then to California in the evening. He’ll stay in the Los Angeles area through Sunday, the Hill reported.

Nevada, which Biden won by less than 3 percentage points in 2020, generally is considered a key state in next year’s presidential election.

“Connecting Las Vegas and Southern California by high-speed rail will create tens of thousands of good-paying union jobs, boost our Southern Nevada tourism economy, and finally help us cut down on I-15 traffic,” Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said in a statement.

Biden’s spending bill targeted $66 billion investment in rail, and as of Friday the president has designated $30 billion of that.

Up to $3 million dollars will go to the Brightline West High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail System Project that will result in a new 218-mile intercity passenger rail system between Las Vegas and Rancho Cucamonga, California.

Another $3 billion-plus will go toward a high-speech rail service to extend the rail line between Bakersfield, California, and Merced, California.

The Hill reported that the goal is for the line to be completed by the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

The Southeast Corridor from Raleigh to Wake Forest, North Carolina, will receive $1.1 billion for enhancements.

A total of $729 billion will go toward a new rail bridge over the Potomac River to expand passenger rail between Washington, D.C., and Richmond.

The funding for the latest projects comes a month after the administration announced that $16 billion would go toward improvements for the Northeast Corridor, the electrified Amtrak corridor between Boston and Washington, D.C., Route Fifty reported.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.