A rendering of Brightline’s Cucamonga Station. The private rail company says that passenger service to Las Vegas could start in 2028.
Credit: Brightline West
Next Stop: Rancho Cucamonga!
As Brightline advances its $12 billion plan to link Southern California and Las Vegas with bullet trains, this LA suburb sees a shot at urban reinvention.
Rancho Cucamonga, about 40 miles east of Los Angeles in California’s Inland Empire, was made by the automobile. After Interstate 15 opened here in the 1960s, this rural expanse of citrus orchards and vineyards transformed into a commuter town and logistics hub. Families flocked to the single-family homes that replaced farmland, while companies like Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling, flavor maker T. Hasegawa, Frito-Lay, and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals exploited its strategic location at the confluence of three major freeways and the Ontario International Airport.
Now this car-based city may be remade by the train. The private rail company Brightline has broken ground on a high-speed rail line between Las Vegas and Southern California, making Rancho Cucamonga the western terminus of its $12 billion Brightline West project. In a full-circle moment, the city was chosen because of its location along the I-15 freeway, in the median of which the majority of the 218-mile track will run.