Panel Promoting High-Speed Train to Las Vegas Revived
Gov. Pete Wilson has signed an Orange County lawmaker’s bill extending the life of a commission promoting a privately built and operated super-speed train between Southern California and Las Vegas.
The legislation by Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove) will allow the California/Nevada Super-Speed Train Commission to continue pushing the project until Jan. 1, 1996.
The Legislature formed the commission in 1988, but its original charter lapsed in July. That same month, Umberg’s bill stalled on the Assembly floor, but he was able to push it through after the Legislature returned from its summer recess.
In recent years, efforts to make headway on the project have not met with much success. Two years ago, Bechtel Corp. pulled out as the primary contractor of a $5-billion plan to build a rail line featuring trains that reach speeds of nearly 300 m.p.h.
Umberg and other boosters, however, contend that private companies in Germany and France are eyeing the Las Vegas-to-Southern California corridor as the place to introduce high-speed trains to the United States.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
