BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom and California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Ian Choudri joined local officials and workers just outside of Bakersfield on Monday, Jan. 6, to mark the start of track laying on a 22-mile stretch of the state high-speed project.
The event — which included officials driving spikes into a ceremonial section of track — also marked substantial completion of the southernmost 22-mile section of the project’s original construction.
“No state in America is closer to launching high speed rail than California,” Newsom said in a press release. “… We’re moving into the track-laying phase, completing structures for key segments, and laying the groundwork for a high-speed rail network.”
The event also noted other progress in 2024, including completion of environmental reviews for the full 463-mile Los Angeles-Bay Area route, new federal funding, and trainset selection in progress.
Choudri also noted work to ensure interoperability with Brightline West and the proposed High Desert Corridor — which would connect the California high-speed route with Brightline West between Palmdale and Victorville, Calif.
“We’re committed to working collaboratively,” Choudri said, “and ultimately developing a modern, interstate high-speed rail network that will not only boost ridership in the Southwest part of the country but bring to the forefront the possibility of delivering high-speed rail benefits sooner.”
The 22-mile segment highlighted during Monday’s ceremony extends from Poplar Avenue in Wasco, Calif., to approximately 1 mile south of the Kern/Tulare county line. Major construction projects including overpasses, underpasses, and viaducts on that segment are now complete.
“Finally, we’re at the point where we’re going to start laying down this track in the next couple of years,” Newsom said, according to a Fresno Bee report. He also referenced the opposition the project faces at the federal level from President-elect Donald Trump, his advisor Elon Musk, and others in the Republican party.
“No one’s naïve about the headwinds that are coming our way, but we withstood those a few years back,” Newsom said, “and we were able to continue to move forward. And I have all the confidence in the world that we will move forward.” He also acknowledged the issues that have plagued the project saying there is “a lot of humility about the past” but that those involved are also “very prideful that we are finally here announcing this railhead project, moving forward to lay track.”
The Bee reports that the four segments in the initial construction package were projected to have been finished by August 2019 at a total cost of about $2.5 billion. Completion is now expected in late 2026, with a total cost estimate at more than $8.1 billion.
Newsom is biting the bullets and the race is on to get both sections down to Palmdale in time time for the games. Except there’s one problem Trump is threatening to kill the project on both ends if the rail is not down. Newsom is now out of the gate and brightline just started construction in Vegas train sets for both lines are now under construction over in Sacramento and will be delivered later this year once the first section is complete on both lines. Originally Newsom was going to use Alstom but because of budget cuts from both the Trump Administration and the Biden Administration and because Amtrak said no the contract of Alstom has been cut this is one of the main reasons why the project is over budgets they bought the wrong contractor. Alstom is an Italian company all of their equipment is used on the Northeast corridor but it is very expensive parts are hard to find and it is a federal lemon. California on the other hand they can build all of their train sets of locally and test them on the corridor on day one after being delivered. Guess what is at the head end of the corridor? Siemens Mobility! End of track is at the factory in Sacramento once those train sets roll off the line they’ll be put into service immediately and plus it is just 20 miles from Sacramento to Fresno Union Pacific and BNSF can just pick up the train sets and deliver them to Fresno yard and then they could switch on to the high-speed segment and then they could do the testing. The problem is newsome needs to get his section finished so bright line can get their locomotives over to Vegas or they’re going to have to go to Long Way on University to bring the stuff over to Smelter Utah so they could be taken down the Shafter sub to brightline shops on the Caliente subdivision in North Las Vegas. It will be faster just to deliver the train sets to Victorville and then run them up the corridor to Vegas once it is complete. Problem is there is no rail line to Victorville and there are clearance issues on the Fresno subdivision coming into the tehachapi loop. And Union Pacific and BNSF will not allow passenger car deliveries on that line. That is why Gavin Newsom needs to get this line done or Trump is going to kill it he has to lay that track down and get down to Palmdale by the end of the year or funding will be cut. The goal for California High-Speed Rail and for brightline is to reach Palmdale by Christmas 2025. Both lines will connect to each other in Palmdale but first they must get this section done and the section from Vegas to Primm done that way they are committed and the federal government can give the money. No rails no money that is the terms that Trump is giving them.
Late 2026 and $8.1 Billion+. We’ll see. If the past is any indicator, neither of the 2 targets will be met.
Guess all of the lunchy Consultants have bled this pig dry and now they actually have to build something. At 22 miles at a time they ought to get this done by about 2050, if that… Probably will depend on how much more money they can steal from the rest of the American Tax Payers who will most likely never ride it in their life times… I’m all for a national coast to coast, near straight line TMV style bullet train but not if it is to be built like Gavin Gruesome has done it. No wonder they are 72 billion in debt in that “great” state. Some MAGA Republican’s need to take the state over and Make California Great Again. Gruesome has no clue how to do it, as his record shows…
As usual I call BS. What is labeled as “Phase 1” is in fact several stages of construction, the more critical, difficult and expensive of them not even started.
Newsom has a lot in common with his doppelganger in Ottawa. Besides lots of hair, little brain power, socialism, tendency toward being dictators, and excessive arrogance, what they have in common is that the voters should have wised up to both of them long ago.
No sympathy from me when they both go down is history as the scummy jerks they both are.
Ex-Doppelganger don’t you mean. Canadians have forced little Pierre out of office and now there is a great chance that the voters will kick the Liberals out too, just like their American counterparts did in favor of the conservatives. At least one can always hope…
Over the years I have hyrailed over perhaps thousands of miles of track that has suffered from the decades of deferred maintenance starting in the 60’s. I always associate 39′ sections of panel track with sites of past derailments. Typically you are bumping along on bent 85LB rail resting on rotting ties when all of a sudden you are up on newer square jointed115lb rail on solid ties in decent ballast for 150 yards before returning to the previous 85lb bent rail roller coaster. Invariably the roadmaster will mention something along the lines of “This was a real mess when they dropped X number cars here back in….”
Obviously, the PR specialist that ordered up a 39′ section of panel track for this little event doesn’t have my background, but you would think someone would clue them in that timber tied 39′ panel track is for derailment clean-up, not HSR track.
Give them some credit. At least it is actual track, even if they couldn;t find a real tangent of track to do this on. Most people wouldn’t know the difference anyway…