Brightline West, trade unions sign MOU

Brightline last week announced it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California (SBCTC) and the Southern Nevada Building Trades Union (SNBTU) to ensure that the private intercity passenger railroad company's future high-speed line between Las Vegas and Southern California will be built with unionized labor.

SBCTC is the California affiliate of North America’s Building Trades Unions and represents 157 affiliated unions from 14 different construction craft unions, 22 local building trades councils and 125 affiliated joint apprenticeship training committees. In total, SBCTC has nearly 500,000 members, about 70,000 of which are apprentices, Brightline officials said.

SNBTU is an alliance of craft unions for highly skilled and productive construction labor and is representing 14 local labor unions across the Las Vegas region, Brightline officials said. The alliance is made up of thousands of workers, including iron workers, insulators and electrical workers.

The future rail line, to be dubbed Brightline West, will be a 218-mile line along Interstate 15 with trains capable of speeds up to 200 mph. The Southern California end of the line is located in Rancho Cucamonga, where riders can connect directly with Metrolink trains. A station will be built in Hesperia, California, in addition to one in Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, Brightline's Florida operation is seeking Federal Railroad Administration certification of a positive train control (PTC) safety plan and system. Brightline is also asking for approval of its interoperable electronic train management system (I-ETMS) as a mixed PTC system.

FRA will consider comments on the application until May 8, according to a publication in the Federal Register.