Passenger Trains > CA HSR: 3 Firms Submit Bids to Construct 2nd Segment

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Three firms are bidding to build the second leg of California's $68 billion high-speed rail system, which will run from Fresno to Bakersfield. Federal authorities signed off on the Fresno-to-Bakersfield route earlier this summer.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority says three joint construction ventures submitted sealed bids by Thursday's deadline.

The contract to design and build the second, 60-mile phase is expected to be worth $1.5 billion to $2 billion.

The groups that submitted bids are: Dragados/Flatiron/Shimmick; Golden State Rail Partnership; and Tutor Perini/Zachry/Parsons, which is building the first 28-mile leg. That section stretches from Madera to Fresno.



Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/10/30/4207572/3-firms-bid-on-second-phase-of.html?sp=/99/406/263/1256/#storylink=cpy

If Neil Kashkari wins, can he still stop the project? He seemed determined to stop "Jerry Brown's Crazy Train."

Simple answers please, no political jumbo talk.

The simplest answer is that your hypothetical has a near zero probability of occurring.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/31/14 10:48 by R30A.

rms492 Wrote:
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> If Neil Kashkari wins, can he still stop the
> project? He seemed determined to stop "Jerry
> Brown's Crazy Train."
>
> Simple answers please, no political jumbo talk.


Yes.

rms492 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If Neil Kashkari wins, can he still stop the
> project? He seemed determined to stop "Jerry
> Brown's Crazy Train."
>
> Simple answers please, no political jumbo talk.

Kashkari is 21 points behind, and dropping

He is loopy. Sad us conservatives can't put up a good candidate here in California!

Posted from Android

rms492 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If Neil Kashkari wins, can he still stop the
> project? He seemed determined to stop "Jerry
> Brown's Crazy Train."
>
> Simple answers please, no political jumbo talk.


Yes he can. Remember Jerry pulled the plug on the multi $$$$ CRA - Community Redevelopment Agency.

reindeerflame Wrote (in part):
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> ... bidding to build the second leg ... which will run from Fresno to Bakersfield.
> The contract to design and build the second, 60-mile phase...

Now I see how they will get such short trip times. Fresno to Bakersfield, 109 miles by highway and 111 miles on Amtrak, will be only 60 miles by HSR!

Bruce Perry
Tehachapi, CA

How do you shrink Fresno to Bakersfield to 60 miles? Even as the crow flies its more than that.

Im no big fan of HSR cause i have my doubts that the most important part BFL-LA will never get built.
Should have built that 1st as could be connected with existing tracks in BFL and reasonable LA-BFL-FNO-STK-oak (SFO)
service started right away. The intermediate cities is where the service is needed. Not so much LA-bay area, as there are already a million flights a day if u need to travel fast.

When this one is completed it'll resolve the long-neglected rail transportation issue of connecting Madera and Bakersfield.

Any bets on when "when" will be?

Fritz in HSV,AL

It is a typical gov't extortion technique: Build the least important part first, save the most important for last, to maximize the pressure to complete it. I.e., making sure the public gets as little value as possible initially, "Complete it or all the money is wasted." Disgusting, but we've got some real thugs running various levels of govt right now.

pdt Wrote:
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> Im no big fan of HSR cause i have my doubts that
> the most important part BFL-LA will never get
> built.
> Should have built that 1st as could be connected
> with existing tracks in BFL and reasonable
> LA-BFL-FNO-STK-oak (SFO)
> service started right away. The intermediate
> cities is where the service is needed. Not so much
> LA-bay area, as there are already a million
> flights a day if u need to travel fast.

In order to build a rail line that's as straight as practically as possible between SF Bay Area and LA Metro Area, it has to go through two mountain passes. Either Tehachapi or Tejon Pass to the south, and Pacheco or Altamont Pass to the north. In the short term, airplane is the most practical solution, since you just take off, flight over the mountains, and land. No need to dig deep tunnels through two mountain passes.

CA HSR Authority was playing games with routing by getting rid of board members representing Northern California, when Schwarzenegger placed SoCal-biased members in their place. A good short term solution would have been to connect SF Bay Area with the Central Valley for feasibility, preferably through Pacheco Pass (and San Jose), but I don't think the powers-to-be in SoCal wanted to be upstaged. So I suspect the Altamont vs. Pacheco Pass in-fighting (as well as the suddenly vocal Palo Alto NIMBYs) were no accidents, to make the NorCal routing muddy. No, I have no proof of this conspiracy, but the timing of it all smelled very suspicious to me.

For those who don't get it, I'm sure some of you remember reading a locked thread about pro-union forces using environmentalism to force Kinkisharyo to reconsider building a light rail factory in Palmdale recently. The lesson here is NIMBYs, environmentalists, and other believers of "isms" can easily be provoked to manipulate public opinion. So, to put it bluntly, Palo Alto NIMBYs were just like the Palmdale environmentalists, in my opinion.

Anyway, a higher speed line via the Coast Line, or upgrading the Amtrak San Joaquin (on BNSF) to faster speeds with CA state money would have been a good solution to improve California's passenger rail network... but the dumb public fell for the "all or nothing" HSR mentality. Too late now. We deserve this misery.

For those who still insist on this being a simple government thuggery, I suggest you dig deeper, because there are strings being pulled - there is a company (with connections to certain powerful politicians) who absolutely need this project to get revenue flow after going through a merger and they need to show something to the shareholders. I know I mentioned this once before, so I'll mention it again.

I for one don't get why they're looking for a contractor for the 2ND Segment and THEY HAVEN'T BROKEN GROUND ON THE 1ST SEGMENT YET! PIPE DREAM!!!

ProAmtrak Wrote:
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> I for one don't get why they're looking for a
> contractor for the 2ND Segment and THEY HAVEN'T
> BROKEN GROUND ON THE 1ST SEGMENT YET! PIPE
> DREAM!!!


From my perspective as a former resident of CA (I left 22 years ago), I learned this truth about government projects.

Projects requiring taxpayer funding are oversold to the public. Lots of slick presentations create the illusion that whatever is being proposed "just needs your approval, dear voters, and before you know it, you'll be riding in state-of-the-art luxury at 200 mph between Madera and Fresno " EUREKA!!

These projects start on time amidst much celebration -- ribbon cuttings, photo ops for politicians and project enthusiasts, and lots of media coverage.

Then almost invisibly, they begin to fall behind schedule. Eventually, people begin to ask when they're going to see some progress

To calm the public, the bureaucrats in charge are reshuffled (never fired). The name of the project may be changed, and to rebuild public confidence, preparations for the NEXT phase are begun.

To state this concisely, motion is sold as movement to convince a still gullible public that all is well and progress is being made --TRUST US!!!

Oh, by the way, we need more funds.

Fritz in HSV, AL

Ain't that the truth!