Breaking Ground On Bullet Train
Sacramento, CA — Construction will begin on California’s high-speed rail next month and it will be cheaper the first estimated. Friday, the California High-Speed Rail Authority announced crews will break ground January 6 in Fresno for the bullet train. However, the location for the ceremony has not been decided yet.
The Authority also reported yesterday that it will cost less to build the train route. The bid for the second leg of the $68 billion high-speed rail system, which will run from Fresno to north of Bakersfield, came in under lower than expected. The 65-mile segment bid was $1.2 billion, which is below the projected cost of $2 billion according to the Authority. Three companies, Dragados USA Inc., Flatiron West Inc., and Shimmick Construction Company Inc., teamed up to submit the winning bid. The work will include about 36 grade separations in Fresno, Tulare and Kings counties, as well as underpasses and overpasses.
Local 4th District Rep. Tom McClintock and 12 other California Republican U.S. congressmen are against federal funding of the nation’s first high-speed rail in California (HSR). The project has received $3.5 billion in initial federal funding, to date, as part of the president’s 2009 economic stimulus plan. Details on a December 5th letter, sent by 10th District Rep. Jeff Denham and co-signed by McClintock and all but two of the state’s Republican U.S. Congressional representatives, requesting the House Appropriations Committee to prohibit federal spending on HSR is in the news story “Lack of High Speed Rail Support“.
