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[CNJRoss]

RT&S 7/17/19
 

California moving toward awarding $1.65 billion hi-speed rail contract

 

 

Although the California hi-speed rail project has had a bumpy ride so far, state officials are on track to award a $1.65 billion contract to design and construct the tracks and system for the first segment of the line.

 

The scope of the contract would include designing and building rail infrastructure along 119 miles in the Central Valley as well as maintaining it for up to 30 years.  Bidding is open to U.S. and international companies.  A U.S. subsidiary of the German rail company Deutsche Bahn AG has already been awarded a $30 million contract for the early operation of the trains.

 

 

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[CNJRoss]

Progressive Railroading, 7/25/19

 

California High-Speed Rail Authority seeks tracks and systems builder

The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) last week released a request for qualifications (RFQ) as part of the agency's efforts to find a contractor to design, build and maintain track and systems infrastructure. 

 

Under the proposal, the contractor would manage rail infrastructure and be responsible for the operation, inspection, maintenance and renewal of all track and system work for at least 30 years. The contractor also would be responsible for all system testing and commissioning.

 

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[CNJRoss]

The Fresno (CA) Bee, 12/15/19
 

Feds forbid bullet train bids for track, systems. California moves ahead anyway. Now what?

 

 

Over the objections of federal regulators, the agency tasked with building California’s ambitious bullet-train project is moving forward to seek bids from companies to lay steel tracks and install required operating systems for a 119-mile stretch of the line through the central San Joaquin Valley.

 

California High-Speed Rail Authority board members voted unanimously Tuesday to issue a request for bids from a trio of pre-qualified teams of companies to install two sets of tracks, as well as systems for electrical power, signals and communications on the route that is now under construction from north of Madera to northwest of Bakersfield.

 

Engineers and consultants for the state rail authority estimate that the work will cost about $1.6 billion. That’s on top of three contracts that add up to more than $4.8 billion for construction of overpasses, bridges, trenches and viaducts for the route through Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern counties.

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[CNJRoss]

Los Angeles Times 12/16/19

Facing war with Trump, troubled California bullet train pushes biggest contract ever

 

 

The California bullet train authority is moving ahead with an aggressive plan to issue its biggest contract in history, steering into sharp criticism by federal regulators and even the state-appointed peer review panel that it is overreaching.

 

The agency took a key step last week toward issuing a 30-year-long contract to install track, set up high-voltage electrical lines, create a digital signaling system, build a heavy maintenance train garage and obligate future maintenance of the equipment and track.

 

It would cover future track from San Jose to Bakersfield, more than half the proposed Los Angeles-to-San Francisco system. It would lock the state into a maintenance contract, as well as equipment, on segments that it currently does not have money to build.

 

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[CNJRoss]

RT&S 12/19/19
 

FRA does not like how the California High Speed Rail Authority is acting; U.S. DOT could pull funding

 

 

The California High Speed Rail Authority is acting like your typical teenager. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has told the group not to proceed with a plan to lay future track from San Jose to Bakersfield. The California High Speed Rail Authority is going to do it anyway.

 

The agency announced a 30-year contract to place track, install high-voltage electrical lines, produce a digital signaling system and construct a heavy maintenance train garage. The San Jose-to-Bakersfield track is half of a proposed line running from Los Angeles to San Francisco.

 

The FRA says current construction packages are facing significant and continuing delays and that the authority cannot handle another design-build contract. A day after receiving notice from FRA, the high-speed rail board voted to open up the bidding process.  .  .  .

 

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