Washington clears the way to build America's bullet train with foreign parts

The country's best shot at genuine high-speed rail just cleared a bureaucratic hurdle, and it did so by admitting that America cannot yet build the trains itself.

The Federal Railroad Administration moved this week to grant a Buy America waiver for Brightline West, the $12 billion, 218-mile high-speed line under construction between Las Vegas and the edge of the Los Angeles metro area. The waiver would cover trainsets, signal systems, high-speed turnouts and fire-alarm systems, on the grounds of domestic nonavailability.

The rolling stock and signalling would come from Alstom and Siemens, the two suppliers identified by Brightline West and the Nevada Department of Transportation. No US factory currently produces trains capable of the 200 mph speeds the line is designed for.

The waiver is a concession to reality, not a loophole. Federal law requires that infrastructure projects funded with taxpayer money use American-made steel, iron and manufactured goods. But true high-speed rolling stock has never been built domestically, and Brightline West received a $3 billion federal grant, so the two requirements collide. The FRA's finding is that the components simply are not available from a domestic source, which the statute recognises as grounds for a waiver.

The project itself is unusual in American rail: privately led, fully environmentally cleared, and running largely within the Interstate 15 median, with planned stops at Las Vegas, Victor Valley, Hesperia and Rancho Cucamonga. Ground was broken in 2024. Backers hope to have trains running in time for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, a deadline that leaves little room for procurement delays.

The waiver clears one such delay. It also underlines the harder truth beneath the ambition: to build the future of American passenger rail, the country must, for now, buy it from Europe.