Brightline West $6 billion federal loan faces opposition from anti-Texas bullet train group

Brightline West

A Texas-based group opposed to a bullet train project in the Lone Star State has turned its attention to the West Coast, urging the U.S. Department of Transportation to reject a $6 billion federal railroad loan for the Brightline West high-speed line.

"We don't have any direct interest at all in any form with Brightline West — it's a policy concern," said John Sitilides, principal at Trilogy Advisors LLC, a Washington, D.C. based lobbyist.

Trilogy represents ReRoute the Route, a group of farmers, ranchers and businesses that oppose the Texas Central bullet train proposal.

"The concern my clients have is that if the administration approves a $6 billion [Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing Program] loan for Brightline West, it would set a precedent for a potential RRIF or other type of loan or grant or credit assistance for the Texas high speed rail project," Sitilides said.

The group penned a letter to Morteza Farajian, executive director of the Build America Bureau, urging him to reject loans for projects like Brightline West and Texas Central that "fail the bureau's investment-grade creditworthiness and repayment tests."

DesertXpress Enterprises LLC, which does business as Brightline West and is owned by Fortress Investment Group, applied for the RRIF loan last September. The company aims to build the nation's first electric high-speed train, which would run between Las Vegas and suburban Los Angeles.

The RRIF loan is considered by investors to be critical to the project move forward. Brightline has been talking with federal officials about the loan for months and has said it hopes to hear a final decision in early 2026.

The head of the Federal Railroad Administration made positive remarks about the project in late April at a public-private partnership event hosted by the Build America Bureau, which oversees the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing Program.

The company is also seeking a $4 billion senior loan package from a banking consortium, and said the bank funding is ultimately conditioned on the RRIF loan's execution.

Brightline in November secured an agreement with bondholders giving it more time to secure the financing package.

"No other RRIF loan has ever exceeded $1 billion, yet Brightline is requesting a $6 billion high-risk loan for a project not yet under construction that is years away from a hoped-for completion," the letter said. "This RRIF loan request makes clear that the project, if built, can only move forward with monies largely from taxpayers and tax-exempt bonds. This is not a private project, but instead a hybrid one whose costs are increasingly socialized, even as Brightline hopes to completely capture all profits if the project is ever completed," the letter said.

"Brightline's open pivot from private bank debt to federal taxpayer bailouts suggests that the private investor markets assess the project's volatility as too risk-laden assure eventual viability."

The group also pointed to the deteriorating situation facing Brightline Florida's passenger train, which is also owned by Fortress.

The RRIF application noted a project price tag of $21.5 billion, a 35% increase over an earlier $16 billion price tag.

Brightline West declined to comment.