{"id":32918,"date":"2024-04-13T13:49:50","date_gmt":"2024-04-13T20:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=32918"},"modified":"2024-04-13T13:49:52","modified_gmt":"2024-04-13T20:49:52","slug":"the-first-high-speed-rail-trains-are-closer-to-coming-to-california-heres-when-and-how-much-they-could-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/04\/13\/the-first-high-speed-rail-trains-are-closer-to-coming-to-california-heres-when-and-how-much-they-could-cost\/","title":{"rendered":"The first high-speed rail trains are closer to coming to California. Here\u2019s when and how much they could cost"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By\u00a0Ricardo Cano<\/a> April 11, 2024 (SFChronicle.com)<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200b\u200bCalifornia plans to buy six sets of trains this year for high-speed rail service<\/a> in the decades-long project\u2019s initial Central Valley segment, at an estimated cost of about $516 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Thursday, the California High-Speed Rail Authority\u2019s Board of Directors voted to allow the authority to solicit proposals from two contractors to purchase the first batch of trains for testing and eventual passenger service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0two companies being considered<\/a>\u00a0are New York state-based Alstom Transportation and Germany\u2019s Siemens Mobility, which has a manufacturing plant in Sacramento and built Muni\u2019s new light-rail trains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The board is expected to award a contract by the end of this year, with the first two \u201cprototype\u201d train sets that will be used for initial testing arriving in 2028.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After years of litigation and construction, the rail authority has started to focus on how it will operate high-speed rail service. The bullet trains will be roughly 11 feet wide<\/a>, according to the authority, and will carry passengers at speeds of up to 220 mph to huge stations<\/a> from Merced to Bakersfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state\u2019s high-speed rail project, though, continues to face uncertainty<\/a>. The project is about $7 billion short of the cost to finish constructing the Central Valley segment. The project also needs about $100 billion to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles via high-speed rail, as initially envisioned in 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no timeline for the completion of the San Francisco to Los Angeles \u201cPhase 1\u201d segment of the project. Authority officials say that passenger service from Merced to Bakersfield won\u2019t be enough for the high-speed rail system to sustain its operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month, state high-speed rail watchdogs warned the project\u2019s costs could continue to increase because of its financial uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authority officials, though, say the forthcoming procurement of trains will inject momentum into the project. The rail authority received a $3 billion grant<\/a> from the federal government in December that will fund the procurement of the electrified train sets, which have an expected lifespan of 30 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authority will use the first two train sets it expects to receive in 2028 for initial testing, which will include testing the trains at speeds of 242 mph \u2014 10% faster than the expected operating speeds of 220 mph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rail authority would receive another four train sets in 2029 for additional testing ahead of revenue service in the Central Valley, which it projects to start sometime between 2030 and 2033. The initial procurement will include a driving simulator for training \u2014 expected to cost about $17 million, according to the authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authority officials said moving forward with the procurement of bullet trains is essential to deliver passenger service in the Central Valley by 2033.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn order to meet our goals and continue the momentum we need to have this contractor under contract by the end of this year,\u201d said Bruce Armistead, the authority\u2019s chief of rail and operations delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authority\u2019s scope of work for its high-speed train sets includes an option to procure up to 15 more train sets. Officials, however, said buying more bullet trains would depend on whether they advance construction to the Bay Area or Los Angeles and if they have funds available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reach Ricardo Cano: ricardo.cano@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @ByRicardoCano<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

April 11, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Ricardo Cano<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ricardo Cano covers transportation for The San Francisco Chronicle. Before joining The Chronicle in 2021, he covered K-12 education at CalMatters based in Sacramento and at The Arizona Republic in Phoenix as the newspaper\u2019s education reporter. He received his bachelor\u2019s degree in journalism at Fresno State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He can be reached at\u00a0ricardo.cano@sfchronicle.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Ricardo Cano April 11, 2024 (SFChronicle.com) \u200b\u200bCalifornia plans to buy six sets of trains this year for high-speed rail service in the decades-long project\u2019s initial Central Valley segment, at an estimated cost of about $516 million. On Thursday, the California High-Speed Rail Authority\u2019s Board of Directors voted to allow the authority to… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32918"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32918"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32919,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32918\/revisions\/32919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}