By making concurrent investments to be linked over time, the Authority will work to construct additional segments as funding becomes available. In May, the Authority Board of Directors adopted the 2018 Business Plan which outlined the system’s path forward, including steps to initiate high-speed rail service as soon as possible. A business plan for Californian high-speed rail Brian has in turn assembled a strong executive team, including Joseph Hedges, who has come aboard as Chief Operating Officer and Pamela Mizukami as the Chief Deputy Director. Brown’s transportation czar, leading the California State Transportation Agency. Prior to taking the helm, Brian served as Gov. Kelly, widely considered the state’s top transportation policy executive, was selected as the Authority’s Chief Executive Officer. Ultimately, the trench will extend approximately one mile in length.Īs the Authority transitioned from a planning to a project-delivery organisation, new leadership and organisational improvements have further been put into place. Crews are installing temporary supports to excavate the remainder in this area of the trench. At the trench, to the north of the SR 180, additional precast struts have been set, approximately 800 feet have been partially excavated. There’s about 18 feet left to excavate before crews will construct a concrete box that will carry the trains under SR 180, a rail spur and the Dry Creek Canal. As they dig down five feet, they add to the retaining wall with a rebar mesh and sprayed concrete, known as shotcrete. Workers continue excavating the crossing under State Route 180 (SR 180) outside of downtown Fresno. “It will be fast, quiet and powered by renewable electricity and last for a hundred years.” I like trains and I like high-speed trains even better,”Īt the time, Edmond highlighted the early economic benefits of construction, making the point that a high-speed rail system, while expensive to build, is still cheaper, more sustainable and more convenient than the price of expanding airports and building freeways. renewed his pledge of support for the high-speed rail programme by prominently boosting the high-speed rail at his 16th and final State of the State Address in front of a joint session of lawmakers. In January, California Governor Edmond G. 2018: A year of progress and change for high-speed rail in California As one of the largest public infrastructure projects in the country, the project has created thousands of good paying jobs and infused the state’s economy with billions of dollars. It’s also drawn in hundreds of private sector firms (including small, disadvantaged and veteran-owned businesses) to begin construction in California’s Central Valley. The state has met the deadline to fully invest all the federal grant funds by 30 September 2017. Combined with other state and federal funds, the investment (including funds for local and regional rail lines) marked the beginning of the work to build the system approved by California voters in 2008. The current construction was made possible thanks in part to a $2.55 billion federal economic stimulus grant, awarded to the California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) in 2010 at the height of the worst economic recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Eventually it will stretch 800 miles and link to other highly populated mega-regions, extending as far north as Sacramento, the state’s capital, and farther south to San Diego. When Phase 1 of the California high-speed rail system opens, electric high-speed rail passenger trains will transport passengers from San Francisco through the Central Valley to Los Angeles and Anaheim in less than three hours at speeds capable of exceeding 200mph.Ĭompared to a car trip of at least six and a half hours in the best traffic, this new travel alternative will transform the way Californians move, live and work. With a population of 40 million and a $2.5 trillion economy – the world’s fifth largest – California is taking bold steps today toward implementing the country’s first true high-speed rail system of tomorrow.

Its innovative spirit and willingness to invest in tomorrow is part of what makes California the economic powerhouse that it is. California has long set the pace for American rail One of the largest structures on Construction Package 1, the Cedar Viaduct will be about three-quarters of a mile long when complete. The viaduct will eventually be connected to the smaller Muscat Viaduct a little further to the south. Columns for several support piers are rising on both sides of the highway.

At the Cedar Viaduct, construction crews continue extending the structure across State Route 99 south of Fresno.

California high speed rail route