Brightline picks manufacturer for high-speed trains to connect SoCal to Las Vegas

Brightline West has chosen the company to build and deliver new high-speed trainsets to be deployed on its bullet train system between Southern California and Las Vegas. The trains will be built by Siemens Mobility, a German manufacturing company that has been building trains in Northern California since the 1980s and has a U.S. headquarters in Sacramento. Siemens has already partnered with Brightline in the past, having built the diesel-electric trains used for the company’s East Coast operation that connects Miami to Orlando, Florida.

Brightline will be acquiring ten “American Pioneer 220” trains that it says will be delivered to Nevada in time for the service to begin operating in 2028. The AP220 is a zero-emission, fully electric train that is capable of reaching speeds of 220 mph, although those speeds won’t be reached when service begins. The trains are expected to be set up in a 7-car configuration with a capacity of more than 430 passengers, depending on final design, Brightline says.