CONSTUCTION BEGINS!

http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/...e24647566.html

That's great news!

:cheers:

Bob Hope Airport's connection to high-speed railway is still in the air
 

Bob Hope Airport's connection to high-speed railway is still in the air
Official stresses need for a new air terminal before discussion of high-speed train.

By Chad Garland
Burbank Leader
June 20, 2015

"If the state’s bullet train is going to have a station near Bob Hope Airport, the two transportation facilities should connect, airport Executive Director Dan Feger said this week. However, first things first — the airport and the city need to hash out the details of a proposed 14-gate replacement terminal at the airfield, he added.

That was the position Feger outlined during a presentation to the Burbank City Council on Tuesday. Council members had asked what the airport was doing to collaborate with officials from the California High-Speed Rail Authority regarding a possible station on the rail segment that will run from Palmdale to Burbank.

“It would be our hope that we can find common ground for an agreement to build a replacement terminal building,” Feger said. “That’s the first step — we need that step — and with that step behind us, then I think we should be having these kinds of discussions [about high-speed rail]...”

http://www.burbankleader.com/news/tn...,7057479.story

Found this floating out there on the interwebs. Not sure what to make of it but it seems to show a Siemens Velaro D with an American flag and rendered with a California landscape in the background. Another visualization excercise to sell CHSRA on Siemens? They're not going to win anyone over with that ghastly geezer RV paint scheme:

http://static6.businessinsider.com/i...et-train-1.jpg
http://static6.businessinsider.com/i...et-train-1.jpg

I've never seen any rendering of CAHSR with a livery that was not blue and yellow.

CSHRA and Amtrak are doing a joint order to try to lower costs.

Here's the Acela version:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.n...783b12dc6ecf62

That was the original plan, but about a year ago CAHSR decided to go its own way. But the NEC train was going to impose some limitations on CAHSR that seemed like too much of a compromise. http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/...e19521495.html

Bummer.

You can see it in the background at the 0:18 mark on the video on the following page:

w3.usa.siemens.com/mobility/us/en/events/pages/moving-california.aspx

It appears to have been displayed at the Siemen's Moving California event. I think it looks a lot better, even if it's just a rendering and not what the final product will look like. They have years to decide on that. The blue and yellow scheme is pretty clunky looking though and does not make the project look very cutting edge. .

Yeah I have to disagree. The blue and yellow "fly California" mock up seen in all the NC3D videos and renderings does look clunky and unimaginative but blue and yellow can and do look great together if done right - see NS in Holland - mostly yellow with blue accents. And obviously wee all know that graphically everything we've seen so far is very preliminary as well as unofficial and all around primitive.

Being the Goden State I'd like to see the idea of an earthy gold or topaz color explored. That could look both bold and sophisticated IMO.

This. There's too much blue and gold throughout the state. Just make the entire thing a uniform gold and let it stand out.

I get that you think those colors are ghastly. But, they are the colors of the California Republic flag.

Edit: they are not the colors...but, red is prominent and maple sugar (the official color of the bear) is close to gold. The more I look at this rendering, the more it strikes me as being red and maple sugar fading to gold.

I do agree that it should be blue and gold. But, I don't have as much of a problem with the red and gold.

I haven't seen that one, before...
I think it's just a concept from these guys...at least, this is all I could dig up. I assume the idea is that Siemens is one of their clients, and this team is thus responsible with marketing materials for their bid...but I thought Siemens actually did that stuff in-house, so it's news for me.

On a side note, I'm all for CA keeping blue and gold since it would preclude them ever going the "stars and stripes" route. :lol:

http://beyond-visual.eu/uploads/atta...s-train-01.jpg

To be fair, it would look awesome if the actual stars and stripes were only on the very front of the cab (along the joint right after the "Amtrak" insignia, with the rest of the train being totally white).

California high speed rail delivery partner appointed

"USA: California High Speed Rail Authority has appointed a consortium led by Parsons Brinckerhoff, and including Network Rail Consulting and management consultancy LeighFisher, as its rail delivery partner."

What does this mean in laymens terms? I thought that PB has been the primary engineering retainer for CHSRA since the get go.

The delivery partner is essentially responsible for evaluating programs for the CHSRA and making suggestions for various aspects of delivery.

Essentially, this is a PPP, in which they're contracting out the responsibilities for their former Project Management Team to a private entity: a joint venture with Network Rail and PB.

edit: it's essentially the Authority stepping back and handing the wheel over to a more seasoned/experienced team, now that construction is actually ramping up. They've seemed very reluctant to try to take on a lot of complicated things themselves, and instead have opted to tag consultants rather than bring people in-house.

I don't mind the colors of red and tan but at this point I've seen the blue and yellow concept way too much to accept anything else. Just like I love what Anaheim did with the design of their station but really hated that they went away from the Nc3d design.

​Jacobs wins $1.2 billion high-speed rail contract

http://www.bizjournals.com/losangele...-contract.html

Alternate high-speed rail route through Bakersfield ready for public inspection
 

Alternate high-speed rail route through Bakersfield ready for public inspection

By John Cox
Aug. 4, 2015
Bakersfield Californian

http://www.bakersfield.com/image/201...0-data-jpg.jpg
An artist's rendering of a high-speed train coming southbound through the Central Valley at 220 mph. (Image courtesy of the Bakersfield Californian)

"Members of the public will get their first chance later this month to take a close look at how California’s high-speed rail project might run through Kern County under an alternative route being worked out with the help of Bakersfield city officials.

The proposed alternative unveiled in concept late last year would run parallel to the Union Pacific railroad instead of along the BNSF Railway Co. tracks, as envisioned earlier. It would move Bakersfield’s bullet train station from the existing Amtrak station to the area around F Street and Golden State Avenue.

Local officials say the new alignment, if approved, would be 1 1/3 miles shorter and less disruptive than the earlier route, affecting fewer properties and likely costing taxpayers less money.

He noted that either alignment would impact the Bakersfield Homeless Center, which would receive money to move elsewhere. One business the alternative route would take out that the hybrid plan would not, he said, is the Deja Vu strip club on Golden State Avenue at the Garces Circle..."

http://www.bakersfield.com/News/2015...nspection.html

There was a HOT photo update earlier this week with several pictures from inside the rail platform level of the transbay terminal:

https://scontent.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...05&oe=56403E9C

https://scontent.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...24&oe=5643B1DF

There's more on the CAHSR Facebook page.

More like the uninhabited basement level since there won't be any trains there for 15 years.

Looks great. Best proposal so far.

Modern California-based design, European-based style of train, perfect model for 21th century.

Hoping for this one. :cheers:

^That is not a proposal for CAHSR. It's just some pic somebody found on some website and then randomly posted it in this thread because he likes it.

It's from official site of Siemens. :shrug:

http://w3.usa.siemens.com/mobility/u...alifornia.aspx

Watch the video at your own link of the 'event' in question, in which Siemens presented a mock up of a CAHSR car on the Capitol grounds. The livery they present is nothing at all like the one you like.

Siemens, with a plant in Sacramento, is bidding to build the trains. Even if they get the contract, the livery won't be up to them and every state-produced video has shown a blue and yellow livery.

Actually, I did, there's the same concept from the rendering at the background:

http://www.dodaj.rs/f/2K/aE/tQn9Zjb/...2-1024x875.png

Yeah, one of many. :tup:

I know, I've just said I like this one, nothing else. :tup:

I'm gonna have to agree with Busy Bee's assessment calling it a "ghastly geezer RV paint scheme." I hope this design is no where close to being chosen.

State eyes land owned by Bob Hope Airport for high-speed rail project
 

State eyes land owned by Bob Hope Airport for high-speed rail project

By Chad Garland
August 18, 2015
Burbank Leader

"California High-Speed Rail Authority officials said this week they plan to propose to Bob Hope Airport officials that the state agency purchase the nearly 60-acre “B6 parcel” — also known as the “Opportunity Site” — north of the airfield’s terminal, an area which is already being marketed for sale.

“You are sitting on something that is an amazing public and private benefit to the future,” said Michelle Boehm, the rail authority’s Southern California regional director. She said transit officials don’t want to lose the “once-in-a-generation opportunity to make something really great — not just great times one, but great times 10.”

Boehm’s pitch capped off an informational presentation in which she updated members of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority on the rail project and touted the promised benefits of high-speed rail, including relief of congestion on the state’s roads, rails and short-haul commuter flight routes throughout California.

However, airport commissioners asked her to be a bit more explicit..."

http://www.burbankleader.com/news/tn...0,597117.story

Oh, well, when you put it that way, of course.

LA to Anaheim leg of CAHSR to hold comm mtgs
http://hsr.ca.gov/docs/programs/stat...lish_Final.pdf

Bullet train's first segment, reserved for Southland, could open in Bay Area instead

Read More: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...123-story.html




http://www.trbimg.com/img-56a3c5eb/t...23/750/750x422

High-speed rail construction extended northward in Madera County
 

High-speed rail construction extended northward in Madera County

By Tim Sheehan
Fresno Bee
March 8, 2016

http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/...60/hsr_viaduct
Work continues on a high-speed rail viaduct, or elevated bridge, over the Fresno River next to the BNSF Railway freight trail tracks east of Madera. It is part of a 29-mile, $1 billion construction contract. A $154 million change order to the contract will extend work north of this site to about Avenue 19. (Image courtesy of the Fresno Bee).


"The California High-Speed Rail Authority has given a green light to a $154.2 million extension of its first construction contract in the San Joaquin Valley, stretching the line northward by almost 3 miles in Madera County.

Meeting Tuesday in Sacramento, rail authority board members voted to allow managers to negotiate a change order with contractor Tutor Perini/Zachry/Parsons for Construction Package 1, a 29-mile section of the rail line from American Avenue south of Fresno to Avenue 17 northeast of Madera. The original contract was awarded in mid-2013 at a cost of about $1 billion. The change order extends the construction to about Avenue 19, near Madera’s Amtrak station.

Scott Jarvis, the authority’s chief engineer, said extending the construction segment “advances the work towards Merced on an environmentally cleared section and provides the capability for a more logical connection and transfer point near an existing Amtrak station.”

Madera’s Amtrak station is along the east side of the BNSF Railway tracks just north of Road 26. Jarvis added that the section was included within the Merced-Fresno environmental impact report that the authority and Federal Railroad Administration certified in 2012..."

http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/...e64841992.html

State revises proposed bullet train routes, but San Fernando Valley communities remai
 

State revises proposed bullet train routes, but San Fernando Valley communities remain skeptical

By Ralph Vartabedian
LA Times
Mar. 17. 2016

http://www.trbimg.com/img-56eba168/t...02/600/600x338
The mountainous area above the Tujunga Wash in Sunland is one proposed route where engineers would bore a tunnel for the bullet train on the Palmdale to Burbank Alignment. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

"The California rail authority has proposed major bullet-train route changes that would put more of it underground as it crosses the San Fernando Valley, avoiding some of the impacts of above ground routes that have drawn strong protests.

High-Speed Rail Authority Chairman Dan Richard said Thursday the state is committed to mitigating the effects on low-income communities as a matter of "environmental justice."

After a public meeting held by the San Fernando Valley Council of Governments, it was clear that the new plan would continue to receive resistance from the communities, even though it would avoid bisecting neighborhoods in several cases..."

http://www.latimes.com/local/califor...318-story.html

http://www.pddnet.com/article/2016/0...etwork-america
good stuff

By 2030 we'll probably be able to 3D print a Hyperloop for a fraction of the cost, this system seems like a huge mistake...

Or planes may generate far less noise, enplane and deplane in half the time, for "short" hauls be able to take off and land on shorter runways, cities continue to grow closer and around airports, headway between flights is reduced, etc and maybe it won't be viable.

The Hyperloop's problems have been well-described:

https://pedestrianobservations.wordp...-entrepreneur/

https://pedestrianobservations.wordp...perloop-costs/

I wonder if part of the reason that maglev development hasn't been as rapid as it "should be" is because, once you pass HSR, you're in the realm of diminishing returns in terms of the buildout cost? In order to have truly high speed rail you must have a quite straight ROW. And as you get incrementally faster from ~200 kph, you have to use exponentially more expensive mitigation techniques against air drag. That doesn't go away with maglev vehicles. (It does, of course, with hyperloop ones, but there are other issues with the capsule system that need addressing.)

This thread is explicitly not about hyperloops or airplanes. Stay on subject, folks.

Jesus. $50M per mile as a marginal cost? No wonder this project is so difficult to pull off.

This is presumably on flat land in a rural area....

The additional work includes several grade separations and a bridge, IIRC.

3 miles for $150 million sounds pretty darn good to me. Or, approximately $50m per mile. This is relatively right in line with expectations. Granted, the additional work involves civil stuff and does not include rail or traction power.

For comparison, bored tunnels are close to $500m per mile, aerial viaduct $200m per mile, and easy at-grade at $25-$50m per mile. The latter range, from my observations, is relevant to the necessity to purchase land or not.

Work starts soon on high-speed rail trench into downtown Fresno
 

Look at this! Investing in modern, efficient, sustainable transportation is creating good construction jobs here in the U.S. It is unfortunate that there are some who'd rather have people sit at home, unemployed, than invest in modern infrastructure.

Work starts soon on high-speed rail trench into downtown Fresno

BY TIM SHEEHAN
Fresno bee
June 27, 2016

"Motorists on Highway 180 through downtown Fresno will start seeing the effects of high-speed rail construction in July as crews begin building a trench that will take the bullet-train tracks beneath the freeway.

The 40-foot-deep trench is the first underground construction for California’s high-speed train system. The two-mile long trench, from Roeding Park to about Stanislaus Street in downtown Fresno, will go under the freeway as well as a San Joaquin Valley Railroad line and an irrigation canal.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority reports that the initial work will include improvements to the shoulders of Highway 180 between G and H streets..."

http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/...e86262842.html

I like the idea of high speed rail in California. But its been so muddied and thrown against the wall so many times, I don't know what's true and what's not anymore. That being said, the one thing I know is true is the total price tag.

This is a serious question.

I know some sections will be viaducts and as stated above will be trenched and tunneled. But why are even the flat land sections costing so much per mile? And why is the new plan all of a sudden avoiding LA for the time being? the biggest mistake seeing how they will be missing out on 20+ million potential riders.

All the info you'd ever need plus plenty of opinion can be found here: http://www.cahsrblog.com/

Modern? lol these things were being built back in the 60s.

The project is so large, and funding requirements so costly, the best and appropriate method to deliver it would be in phases.

The is first because sections of long tangent track are necessary for testing trains. It also supports the need to provide a maintenance yard at relatively cheaper costs than in LA or SF areas. It also compliments political support whereas vetting extensions to north and south can be equal, if paired together.

Like you said, it doesn't compliment initial ridership and usage, which is a consequence.

IMO, too much in politics is playing a role in the planning of the system. I agree with the initial operating criteria identified in the State voter approved measure, however, not much of the later political involvement. The product will be slightly less optimal operationally and slightly more expensive - capital construction and annual operating costs.

Yes, the CHSRA blog site is good.

So which is it: should they run roughshod over the concerns of residents (e.g. many of the same voters who approved the bond measure), or should they actually accommodate these concerns, within reason?

Those are mutually exclusive, discrete choices.

Courtesy of sf.streetsblog, a video, photo, and map of California High Speed Rail. A fully-funded 119-mile corridor has begun construction in the Central Valley. This first segment of CAHSR will eventually connect with the Pacheco Pass segment, and link Fresno with the Bay Area:

• Video Link


Bridging the Fresno River. This is just one of several locations where work is under way on the California High-Speed Rail project. Photo: CaHSR Authority:
http://sf.streetsblog.org/wp-content...-authority.jpg

A map of the possible alignments to link up San Francisco with the Central Valley via the Caltrain corridor and a new alignment across the Pacheco Pass Image: CaHSRA:
http://sf.streetsblog.org/wp-content...09/Pacheco.jpg

Source: sf.streetsblog

CA HSR construction
 

One of my friends who works for Parsons Brinckerhoff took these photos of high speed rail construction in Fresno. This important investment in efficient, modern, infrastructure is creating good jobs an will help encourage infill development in cities like Fresno.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5603/3...3bbf47b7_b.jpg

https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5813/3...a5372c28_b.jpg

https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5601/3...53dee006_b.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8131/3...4bcd375e_b.jpg

https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5565/3...960ac5b5_b.jpg