Nevada Gov. Sandoval names five to high-speed rail agency

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval last week made five appointments to the Nevada High-Speed Rail Authority.

The new authority members are: George Smith, an executive vice president at Bank of America Merrill Lynch; Fred Dilger, principal at Black Mountain Research in Henderson; Peter Thomas, a managing partner of Thomas and Mack Co. in Las Vegas; Tina Quigley, general manager of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada; and Hualiang Teng, director of the railroad, high-speed rail and transit initiative, as well as a civil engineering associate professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

Smith and Dilger's terms expire on June 30, 2018. Thomas and Quigley will serve until June 30, 2019, while Teng's appointment ends June 30, 2017, according to a press release issued by Sandoval’s office.

"The men and women appointed today represent some of the brightest minds in transportation and business development," Sandoval said. "I am confident they will lead a thorough and thoughtful discussion and I am pleased they have agreed to serve in this capacity."

In late May, Sandoval signed a bill that established the Nevada High-Speed Rail Authority, which was charged with creating a rail system connecting Southern California and southern Nevada.

The new legislation modified the statutory language of an earlier law known as NRS 705, which established the California-Nevada Super Speed Ground Transportation Commission and contemplated the application of a maglve train between the two states.

The older law was changed to require the state to pursue high-speed rail technology that is "both feasible and compatabile with current federal policy," staffers from Sandoval's office said in a press release.

[Editor's note: This story was changed after its initial posting.]