Former Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) head Tina Quigley, who left her post in November after 14 years, says she’s leaving her new private sector job overseeing a massive, high-speed rail project between Las Vegas and Southern California after just five months.

Quigley said in a brief interview on Wednesday that she remains a strong believer in the project — a 170-mile, $4.8 billion high-speed train between Las Vegas and Victorville, California — but that her own personal interests and desire to remain involved in charitable and philanthropic interests led her to leave the project. 

“More and more I want to just focus on my philanthropy and other endeavors in Southern Nevada,” she said.

Quigley left the RTC and joined up with Virgin Trains USA in November 2019 as the company’s vice president of business strategy and to help plans for the high-speed bullet train. Quigley previously told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that construction on the project could begin as early as the third quarter of 2020 but that work in Las Vegas would likely not begin until mid-2021.

She said on Wednesday that her main priorities would be her involvement in philanthropic efforts, including chairing the Desert Research Institute Foundation and membership on the boards of the Fulfillment Fund of Las Vegas and the Nevada International Women’s Forum, as well as helping with future transportation infrastructure projects in Southern Nevada.

Quigley said she’s retired as a government employee, but wasn’t closing the door on future private sector opportunities should they arise.