SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California High Speed Rail Authority this week issued a Request For Proposals for the contract to build track and related systems for the 119-mile first segment of the project, between Merced and Bakersfield.
The $3.5 billion contract will be one of the nation’s largest for rail infrastructure. Proposals from interested companies are due March 2, 2026; more details are on the RFP are available here. Along with track construction, the project will include the catenary electrical system, train control, and communications system.
“Bringing this contract to market today is a major milestone of our new delivery strategy: building faster, smarter, and more economically,” Authority CEO Ian Choudri said in a Nov. 26 press release. “Together with our innovative direct purchases of track and systems materials, this action puts us on an accelerated path to laying the first true high-speed rail track in the Western Hemisphere next year.”
The RFP was announced as the authority completed track installation at a 150-acre railhead facility in Kern County, which will serve as the logistics hub for the project and will soon began receiving shipments of track and other construction materials. From there, those materials will be delivered to the points of installation along the initial segment. Groundbreaking on that facility was held in January [see “Ceremony marks start …,” Trains.com, Jan. 7, 2025].
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How many tickets does CaLHSR have to sell to cover just the items in this article. Which are the tiniest, barely measurable, fractions of the overall cost LA to SanFran.
The wider public, not knowing much about rail, is horrified at the expense of a project from Merced to Bakersfield. My response? They don’t the half of how atrocious this project is. They don’t know a tenth of it.
I would like to know the progress Merced to San Jose on the north, and Bakersfield to Burbank to Los Angeles on the south. Have the routes been finalized? Property acquired? Environmental statements filed? Utility relocation started? Anyone know the costs? To call CalHSR a scandal doesn’t begin to describe it.
I live in a state were projects come in on time, on budget. Milwaukee’s Zoo, Mitchell and Marquette Interchanges on the interstate highways, for examples. CalHSR isn’t a cost overrun or a time delay. It’s an outright lie.