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California High Speed Rail Authority advances track and systems construction procurement

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    Comment box Scope: summary, information Tone: neutral Opinion: only at the end Sarcasm/humor: none [Archive] California High Speed Rail is a big project that's eventually supposed to connect San...
    Comment box
    • Scope: summary, information
    • Tone: neutral
    • Opinion: only at the end
    • Sarcasm/humor: none

    [Archive]

    California High Speed Rail is a big project that's eventually supposed to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles by train, with faster service than current tracks. Construction has been ongoing for a few years in the Central Valley and between San Francisco and San Jose.

    The way construction projects happen is more or less:

    • Institution develops vision plan
    • Plan goes through many tedious, extremely expensive engineering and environmental reviews
    • Alternative [to existing condition] is selected
    • Engineers create more detailed plans
    • Institution issues RFP for contractors to submit bid proposals on, i.e. making them compete to do it cheapest
    • Institution issues RFQ to finalize price (I guess this can happen first sometimes)
    • Contractors build the thing

    Most of those stages take several years each, so we're pretty far along.

    The California High-Speed Rail Authority has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to solicit bids for constructing high-speed rail and track systems next year.

    the $3.5 billion RFP is one of the largest contracts for the country. It includes track, train control, communications, the overhead contact system, and safety certification and testing for service. The contract has nine separate packages with phased Notices to Proceed.

    Once the Track and Systems Contract is awarded, the Authority will begin systems installation along the [119-mile] alignment.

    So far, the CAHSR Authority has mostly been building bridges/alignment structures for the train. This RFP is for the physical tracks and equipment operators need in order to run trains. The procurement of the trainsets will come later.

    The Central Valley segment is mostly funded and the CA state legislature will likely cover any gaps. There is currently no funding to connect San Jose and Merced, or Bakersfield and Los Angeles. However, basically the entire route is environmentally cleared, so if they can get funding for procurement and construction, it's mostly ready to go.

    5 votes