“A Huge Milestone” for California High Speed Rail
Full route from Los Angeles to San Francisco has environmental clearance
Three key developments emerged from the California High Speed Rail Authority‘s extended board meeting this week.
First, the California HSR Authority’s board of directors green lighted the environmental impact statement for the Palmdale to Burbank segment.
The approval means all environmental documents for the 463-mile SF to LA line are now cleared. (The EIS for a short segment that extends south from LA to Anaheim will likely be approved next year.) The Authority’s CEO, Brian Kelly, called this “a huge milestone.”
Preparations for construction on the Palmdale to Burbank segment can now begin. The 38-mile route selected by the Authority will take about 20 minutes on trains running at speeds up to 220 mph. In total, the segment will require about 30 miles of tunnels, and trains will run underground through 28 miles of mountains and forest, including the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and the Angeles National Forest.
Station designs revealed
Second, station designs for the project’s first segment, now under construction in the Central Valley, were unveiled. The four stations will serve Bakersfield, Fresno, Kings/Tulare, and Merced. The design firm said in a statement that the stations include “soaring canopies that draw in fresh air” and reflect “the sustainable ethos of the wider project”—which will “transform local communities and completely revolutionize the way people travel across the state.” Renderings of the station designs can be found here.
Track and electrification design
Finally, the Authority awarded a contract for design work on track and overhead contact systems for the 171-mile Central Valley segment, which will connect Merced and Bakersfield. (Earlier this year, CHSRA also announced that Alstom Transportation and Siemens Mobility were shortlisted as the trainset suppliers.) In late 2022, the Authority delayed awarding the contract because of the “economic climate, supply-chain challenges, and 40-year high inflation.” This week’s award is “an important step” in implementing a new procurement strategy designed to produce better results at lower costs, according to the Authority.
Steady progress on California HSR is adding up to something big
Together, these developments show that California’s HSR project is making solid progress and steadily moving forward.
When trains begin running in the Central Valley in 2030—following the launch of Brightline’s LA to Las Vegas service in 2028—the US will have its second true high-speed line. As the Alliance noted earlier this week, the public already supports high-speed rail by a wide margin. And that’s before California’s projects give millions of Americans their first experience of true high-speed trains.
Which means other states should take note. High-speed rail is set to revolutionize the way people travel—across California and across America—in just a few short years. It’s not a distant hope or a delayed dream. It’s actually happening.
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