The California High-Speed Rail Authority’s (CHSRA) Board of Directors approved a team to install electrified high-speed rail track and systems.
The Track and Systems Construction contract covers 119 miles of guideway in the Central Valley and extends north and south into the future Merced and Bakersfield extension. A consortium of Kiewit, Stacy Witbeck, and Herzog will install the train control and communications infrastructure, overhead contact system, and track ahead of transforming the 119 miles of guideway into an electrified high-speed rail system. This system will be capable of speeds up to 220 mph, says CHSRA. The phased structure of the contract allows crews to begin track and system work “as soon as civil construction is completed in each segment.”
This comes after crews finished installing track at the southern railhead facility in Kern County. According to the report, this facility will serve as the staging and distribution hub for high-speed track and systems installation. Now, the facility is able to receive freight deliveries of rail and other long-lead materials such as rail, concrete ties, and ballast that are directly procured by the Authority…