a privately held railroad could soon be getting a multibillion dollars loan from the federal government. ainsley earhardt live to explain. good afternoon, ainsley. good afternoon, doug. desert express wants to be the first to bring high speed rail to the u.s. but the 150-mile per hour train will cost taxpayers $5 billion to build. some say it is the fail rail. the train to no where. well, i went to california to investigate. our goal is to give 80% of americans access to high speed rail. bringing high speed rail to the united states has long been a priority of the obama administration but there is one problem. the closer you get to southern, california s major population centers, the harder it is to build a train. it would just be cost prohibitive to get the right-of-way they need to cut through so many cities and simply be too expensive. so instead the train will start outside of victorville, california, a desert city of
billion. supporters calling it a vital lifeline between los angeles and las vegas. critics say it is a risk that taxpayers cannot afford to take. ainsley, i used to drive to las vegas as college student. but that is another story. reporter: do you remember it? speaking of secrets . gregg: i have a vague recollection. reporter: what is happenings i-15, desert express, a private company, wants to be the first to bring high-speed rail to that area, to the united states, but the 150 miles per hour train will cost the taxpayer $5 billion to build. some say it is the fail rail, the train from nowhere. i went to california to investigate. our goal is to get 80 percent of americans high-speed rail. bringing my speed rail to the
the reason that you are seeing this happen is las vegas sees a reason for it. reporter: what is standing in the way of turning this into an oasis? it is money. with private funds drying up, the desert express is asking you to chip in. they say they need at least $5 billion in taxpayer money in the form of a loan. solyndra is supposed to be paid back, also, and we know how that worked out. i don t buy it. reporter: the loan will come from the federal railroad administration which has $35 billion allocated for our railroads but concerns linger. will the company make enough money from the project to pay back the billions borrowed from the federal government? gregg: did you ever read the book by hunter thompson? i tried to reenact it and it didn t work out so well for me.
it, we ll give you the 5 billion for the company as long as you pay it back and that s the question, will they be able to or are enough people going to ride that train to make that 5 billion dollars back for the federal government. it s coming to the people and subscribe to this. what are the chances of this coming. the chances are high, and the government has 35 billion dollars to spend and this is going to be 5 billion dollars, and they will probably get this money to build the train. and harry reid is behind this and a lot of republicans as well and casino owners are behind it, as well and want folks to come to vegas and saying that environmental tests have been done and the licenses are in, and all that needs to be done is that they need to get this loan and i think it s going to happen. senator harry reid of nevada, you mentioned there, and good to see you. good to see you, and i know your name, my friend, harris. harris: i know you do. (laughter) and thank you. ha
come from the federal railroad administration financing program to which congress has appointed about $35 billion for projects like this. they are tasked with doing that. that was the mandate interest congress.m as long as that loan is paid back in full down the road maybe a lot of people out there watching are saying i m fine with it. how can we guarantee that the loan is going to be paid back? it is up to desert express to market this properly. it does give an option to people who do not want to sit in the traffic or even sit in their cars driving through the desert and enjoy a short ride to vegas versus a long ride in their vehicle. sean: joining us our own ainsley earhardt. how are you? hey, sean. doing the 5:00 a.m. doing the 5:00 a.m. show.