USA: California high speed rail is moving beyond completed alignment works after approval of a $3.5bn track and systems contract for the Central Valley starter section.

California high speed rail moves to track work
Render of a train for the new California high-speed railway
Source: California High-speed Rail Authority

The California High Speed Rail Authority announced on June 1 that it had cleared the award for track and electrification systems on the first part of the route. The package shifts the programme from building the corridor’s physical alignment toward equipping it for future electric high speed operations.

The contract has been awarded to an American-led consortium comprising Kiewit, Stacey Witbeck and Herzog. CHSRA said the group will install track, the overhead contact system, train control, communications infrastructure and other railway systems. Together, these works are needed to prepare the 190 km alignment for trains capable of operating at speeds of up to 355 km/h.

Tracklaying is expected to begin before the end of this year. That makes the award one of the most visible steps yet in the Central Valley high speed line programme.

California high speed rail shifts toward systems delivery

The procurement followed a Request for Proposals issued by CHSRA on November 26 last year. Through that process, the authority sought a contractor for a Track & Systems Construction Contract covering the equipment and works needed to fit out the alignment now under construction.

The scope covers ballasted track, overhead electrification equipment, train control, communications equipment, testing and safety certification for service. These are the elements required to turn the built corridor into an operating railway, rather than only a civil construction programme.

The main contract area runs for 191 km between Madera and Poplar Avenue, north of Bakersfield. It also covers additional sections where planning approval has been completed. Taken together, those sections would extend the railway to Merced and Bakersfield, increasing the Initial Operating Section to 270 km.

Central Valley contract builds on Kern County worksite

CHSRA launched the procurement after completing tracklaying at its planned worksite in Kern County. The 61 ha site is intended to support the tracklaying and systems fit-out process, allowing construction materials to move efficiently along the first alignment.

The authority said the site will allow freight trains to deliver track and systems construction materials directly to the point of installation. In practical terms, that logistics base is expected to support the project as it moves into the railway systems phase.

In July 2024, CHSRA appointed a joint venture of Systra and Typsa to design the track and overhead electrification for the initial sections. That design work now sits alongside the newly awarded construction package for track and railway systems.

At the beginning of June, the authority reported that more than 128 km of the route trace had been completed. It also said 60 major structures were finished, with another 30 under construction across Madera, Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties.

$3.5bn contract supports wider route ambitions

According to the official California High-Speed Rail project overview, the programme continues to advance across California. Of the planned 795 km route between San Francisco and Los Angeles/Anaheim, 745 route-km have received environmental clearance and are considered construction-ready.

The authority’s Chief Executive Ian Choudri described the award as a turning point because it moves the programme closer to an operating railway. ‘Bringing onboard the team that will build California’s high speed rail track and systems marks the moment this program transforms from major civil construction into delivering an operating railway’, said CHSRA Chief Executive Ian Choudri when the contract was awarded.

‘With the railhead track installation complete and many critical rail materials already under contract, we are now accelerating toward installing the first true high speed rail track ever built in the Western Hemisphere and doing it in a way that delivers for California quickly, and economically.’

As Railway Supply previously covered in its California High-Speed Rail contract update, the award places track, electrification and railway systems at the centre of the next delivery phase.

Ezra Silk, Political Director of the US High Speed Rail Association campaign group, also described the beginning of tracklaying as a major step for the project. “The beginning of the tracklaying phase is a major milestone for California’s bullet train’, added Ezra Silk, Political Director of the US High Speed Rail Association campaign group. ‘California high speed trains are coming and there is no turning back now.’