IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
A state agency has approved the second half of $600 million in bond allocations that will help pay for the Virgin Train XpressWest rail project, which will connect Southern California to Las Vegas.
The private equity bonds, OK’d by the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee, will be funded through a sale of private bonds later this year, according to a statement.
Public funds will not be part of that transaction.
Scheduled to break ground this year, the project will lay 170 miles of rail track between Apple Valley and Las Vegas. Virgin Train XpressWest is expected to create more than 30,000 construction jobs and pump an estimated $3 billion into the state economy.
It will also spur housing construction, increased housing, job creation and economic development throughout the High Desert, according to the statement.
