The next stage of building California’s future electrified high-speed rail system will begin this year after state officials awarded a new $3.5 billion contract.
A contractor consortium including Kiewit, Stacy Witbeck and Herzog won the contract with the California High-Speed Rail Authority board of directors, covering 119 miles of track installation, overhead contact system, train control and communications infrastructure between Merced and Bakersfield.
The contract also covers tracks north and south into the future Merced and Bakersfield rail system extensions. Work is expected to begin later this year, and no scheduled completion date has been announced.
The 119 miles of future track are currently under civil construction, and the consortium’s track construction will begin in phases as civil construction is finished. The Rail Authority says it has directly procured long lead materials including rail, concrete ties and ballast to accelerate the project’s completion and reduce costs.
The completed rail system between Merced and Bakersfield will cut through California’s Central Valley and reach speeds up to 220 mph, the authority says. It is the largest track and system installation project in the country and the first true high-speed rail track built in the Western Hemisphere, according to the authority.
Work already completed on the future 119-mile rail corridor includes track installation at the southern railhead facility in Kern County, which will become the new project’s staging and distribution hub; 84 miles of guideway; and 61 major structures.
Currently, 171 miles of the future high-speed rail system between Merced and Bakersfield are under design or construction, and 27 more structures are under construction across Madera, Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties.
This new $3.5 billion contract falls under the 494-mile first phase of California’s overarching high-speed rail plan, and the remainder of Phase 1 will extend the system into San Francisco and past Los Angeles, in Anaheim. Currently, 463 miles of the Phase 1 system are fully environmentally cleared and ready for construction.
Phase 2 of the project will further extend the line from Merced north into Sacramento and from Los Angeles south into San Diego.
The first construction package under Phase 1 was awarded in 2013 to a joint venture between Tutor Perini, Zachry and Parsons, covering a 32-mile corridor between Avenue 19 in Madera County to East American Avenue in Fresno County. This contract, which remains ongoing, covers 12 grade separations, two viaducts, one tunnel, a major river crossing over the San Joaquin River and the realignment of State Route 99.
After all contracts under Phase 1 and 2 have been completed, California’s complete high-speed rail system will stretch 776 miles. California voters first approved the rail system project in 2008.
