Air Force One landed in Las Vegas on Friday so President Joe Biden could deliver remarks at the city's Carpenter International Training Center where he promoted a significant investment in rail projects across the United States.
A total of $8.2 billion in funding has been allocated to 10 major passenger rail projects across the country, including one highly anticipated rail project to link Las Vegas to Los Angeles. The passenger rail project will also link to San Francisco.
The White House says the route will span 218 miles and link the Nevada city with a station in Rancho Cucamonga, just outside of Los Angeles, serving over 11 million passengers a year.
President Biden said the project will provide "jobs, jobs, jobs."
"Once we complete this train line, it's going to be operated by union workers," President Biden said, adding that the jobs won't require a college degree, but will be highly-skilled positions that are expected to be well paid.
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The Biden administration hopes the federal and state investments will work with partnership programs to revitalize travel in the U.S. West.
In another project, developers hope what has been called the nation's first high-speed electric rail line will move passengers through California's Central Valley and connect to San Francisco, with cars that can travel up to 220 miles per hour, according to development plans. Critics argue that the projects are too costly.
During the trip President Biden also visited the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to meet with UNLV President Keith Whitfield to deliver condolences for the lives lost duringthis week's mass shootingon that campus, Scripps News Las Vegas reported.
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