China Railway says decision to cancel US contract ‘a mistake’
Print Edition
CHINA Railway said yesterday that the unilateral cancellation of a high-speed railway contract with its subsidiary was “a mistake” and “irresponsible.”
The company said it opposed Las Vegas-based XpressWest’s decision and was “dealing with the case based on law.”
XpressWest said on Wednesday that it had terminated a joint venture with China Railway International, a company formed last August to build the passenger line between Las Vegas and Southern California, because CRI had trouble meeting performance deadlines and in “obtaining required authority to proceed.”
XpressWest Chief Executive Tony Marnell, a Las Vegas-area developer, declared the company “undeterred by this development,” and dedicated after 10 years of work to completing the project.
“Our biggest challenge continues to be the federal government’s requirement that high-speed trains must be manufactured in the United States,” a company statement said. “As everyone knows, there are no high-speed trains manufactured in the United States.”
Operating as DesertXpress, project backers appeared close in 2013 to receiving a US$5.5 billion federal loan before political opposition and the US-made requirement scuttled financing.
The project hadn’t broken ground but it did have regulatory approval to cover about 190 miles from Las Vegas to the Mojave Desert city of Victorville in California, about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles.
Cost estimates topped US$7 billion.
The company said it expects to have passenger projections by August, to meet regulatory and financing requirements, and to obtain environmental approvals by September.
The project needs further government permission to connect with Southern California’s population centers, including Los Angeles.
Proponents want to connect with a proposed state of California high-speed rail project at a station to be built in Palmdale, 50 miles west of Victorville. A mountain range and about 50 more miles separate Palmdale from downtown Los Angeles.
Skeptics have long questioned whether enough people would drive to Victorville and then board a train to make the venture profitable.
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