The Federal Railroad Administration issued a waiver on Nov. 29 to the California High-Speed Rail Authority allowing it to procure rail car shells for six train sets and other products from manufacturers outside the U.S. The waiver releases the authority from “Buy America” requirements because the items are not produced in the U.S. The Buy America requirements are set by the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail program through which the FRA provides some funding for the high-speed rail line under construction in California.

Two manufacturers, which Smart Cities Dive has identified as Siemens Mobility and Alstom, told the authority they would not be able to supply fully Buy America-compliant train sets, according to the FRA. The agency previously issued a similar waiver to Brightline West for its Las Vegas-Southern California project. 

Under the waiver, the California High-Speed Rail Authority can obtain aluminum car shells, signal systems, high-speed rail turnouts and fire alarm systems from suppliers outside the U.S. According to the FRA, the authority expects to complete its procurement process for the train sets and other products later this year.

Amtrak is inching closer to developing true high-speed rail, not in the heavily-traveled Northeast Corridor, but in Texas.

Andy Byford, Amtrak’s senior vice president of high-speed rail development, said on a Friday webinar that Amtrak sees Texas as being in need of better passenger rail service, especially among Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio: the region known as the Texas triangle. “The state of Texas is growing exponentially, so we have big plans for all three sides of that triangle,” he said. Of all the potential high-speed rail routes in the U.S., he believes that Dallas to Houston “represents the one that is probably the most compelling.”

Byford joined Amtrak in April 2023; he previously ran the Toronto Transit Commission, the New York City Transit Authority and Transport for London. In August 2023, Amtrak announced that it was exploring a partnership with Texas Central Partners, which had been working for over 10 years on a high-speed rail line connecting Dallas and Houston.

Earlier this year, Amtrak announced it was taking the lead on the Texas Central project. “We inherited this from Texas Central, which was a private entity that had made progress on this and gained some key decisions,” Byford said on the webinar. An Amtrak spokesperson in an email described the relationship between the two entities as a collaboration.

More than four years have elapsed since the Federal Railroad Administration signed off on the environmental review for the project, which means the environmental impact statement needs to be reviewed to make sure nothing significant has changed, Byford explained on the webinar. Amtrak advanced the project to the third phase of the FRA’s Corridor Identification Program on Sept. 11, which enables Amtrak to coordinate with the FRA on preliminary engineering and environmental review.

But Byford warned that it’s not a done deal. “There's a lot of work still to be done. There's the matter of getting the funding package, the political support, the land,” he said. Then there’s the money part: Byford said constructing the high-speed rail line could cost $30 billion or more. “We would still need to put together the funding stack to make this thing a reality,” he said.

Nevertheless, Byford appeared hopeful. “If the ridership and the revenue are what we believe that they can be, that will have a massive positive impact to the Texan economy, which will benefit the whole of Texas.”

He also expressed optimism for the future of high-speed rail nationwide. “There finally seems to be this sense of momentum and determination to make the breakthrough, to actually make high-speed rail a reality here in the U.S.,” Byford said. “So I'm very excited about this.” 

Siemens Mobility announced Sept. 9 that it will build a new facility in upstate New York to manufacture high-speed trains for Brightline West, the Las Vegas to Southern California high-speed rail line now under construction. The almost 300,000-square-foot, $60 million facility will create about 300 jobs, Siemens said in a press release. The manufacturer will begin production in 2026 of train sets capable of reaching 220 mph for the high-speed line, which is scheduled to open in 2028.

The announcement came during a ceremony in Horseheads, New York, where the factory will be built. “Upstate New York is unmatched in rail car manufacturing capabilities, with a deep proud history pioneering the rail industry and a community that is excited to get to work building America’s future,” said U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer at the event.

Siemens Mobility posted a short video of the new American Pioneer 220 trains’ interior on LinkedIn Thursday. Siemens described the rail cars as featuring an “ultrawide body” accessible to wheelchair users. The trains will include a lounge car where riders can enjoy the view while relaxing with a beverage.

A $4 million grant from New York state will help prepare the site for the facility.

The Transbay Joint Powers Authority selected AECOM for program and construction management of the $8.2 billion downtown rail extension that will bring Caltrain commuter trains and the state’s high-speed rail trains to San Francisco’s downtown transit center, the company announced Aug. 21.

The 1.3-mile electrified line, also known as The Portal, will mainly run underground and includes stations at Fourth and Townsend streets and the Salesforce Transit Center. When completed in 2035, the tunnel is expected to be used by trains carrying 90,000 daily riders and connect with 11 Bay Area transit systems. 

Portal Connectors, a team led by AECOM, will work on designing and building the tunnel stations, integrating the extension with current rail systems and obtaining funding from the Federal Transit Administration. The FTA awarded the project a $3.4 billion capital investment grant in May. Additional funding comes from local and state funds and other federal grants.

Caltrain began operating electric trains from the existing station at Fourth and Townsend streets to San Jose, California, on Aug. 11.

The agency behind the Los Angeles-San Francisco high-speed rail project announced on Aug. 8 the appointment of Ian Choudri as its next CEO. The search for a new leader has been underway since January when CEO Brian Kelly said he planned to retire this year but would stay on until a successor was found.

Choudri brings over 30 years of experience in transportation, including work on high-speed rail projects in France and Spain, the California High-Speed Rail Authority said in a press release. He is currently a senior vice president at HNTB, a transportation infrastructure design firm. Choudri’s background also includes stints at Parsons, Bechtel Civil Infrastructure and Alstom, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Choudri’s appointment was greeted with approval by high-speed rail advocates. U.S. High-Speed Rail Coalition Co-Chair and former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in an emailed statement, “Ian Choudri is the right executive at the right time to lead America’s most ambitious high-speed rail project as it advances toward initial operations.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement that Choudri is “taking control at an important moment,” as the project begins to lay track, buy trains and build stations.

Global train manufacturer Alstom Transportation is suing the Federal Railroad Administration after a rival company was named the preferred bidder to build high-speed train sets for the Brightline West project.

Alstom filed suit July 17 against the Federal Railroad Administration, alleging that the agency improperly granted a waiver of the Build America, Buy America Act to the Nevada Department of Transportation for use in the procurement of train sets and high-speed rail components for the Las Vegas-to-Southern California Brightline West project. The Build America, Buy America Act requires all FRA-funded projects to be constructed with materials produced in the U.S.

The waiver allows rival train maker Siemens Mobility, which Brightline selected as its preferred bidder, to import the first two of 10 train sets from Germany. The FRA noted in its decision that neither Siemens nor Alstom “would be capable of delivering the rolling stock for the FRA-funded project without a waiver based on domestic nonavailability.” Siemens has a 710,000 square-foot facility in Sacramento, California, to manufacture rolling stock and plans to open a second train manufacturing facility in Lexington, North Carolina, this year.

Alstom said it stands ready to make high-speed train sets in its Hornell, New York, plant by adapting its Avelia trains, which are the basis for Amtrak’s next-generation Acela train sets for the Northeast Corridor. Dani Simons, Alstom vice president of communications and public affairs for the Americas, in a June interview, explained the importance of adhering to Buy America requirements for manufacturers. “If you want to build up the U.S. knowledge base of being able to build high-speed rail, you need to show manufacturers that you are committed to their long-term success,” she said.

Alstom and Siemens Mobility are also the two prequalified bidders for the California high-speed rail project to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Alstom’s lawsuit was first reported by Law360 and confirmed by Smart Cities Dive.

Representatives of the High Desert Corridor Joint Powers Authority signed two agreements with more than 16 labor unions on July 9 ensuring that union workers will construct, operate and maintain the proposed high-speed rail line. 

The High Desert Corridor project in Antelope Valley in Los Angeles County, north of LA, aims to connect the future Brightline West high-speed rail line from Las Vegas to Southern California and the California High-Speed Rail project between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The 54-mile line plans to use Los Angeles County Measure M sales tax funds, which county voters approved in 2016, to leverage federal, state and private investments. The JPA is working through environmental reviews with the Federal Railroad Administration.

The labor agreements took almost a year to complete with help from the U.S. High Speed Rail Association. “These agreements will help put the High Desert Corridor on track to become another link in a nationwide high-speed rail network — which is critical to meeting the transportation challenges of the 21st Century,” US HSRA said in an emailed statement.

Dive Brief:

• With two high-speed rail projects under construction in the U.S. and many others in the planning stages, a study published Monday by New York University's Marron Institute of Urban Management cautions that “domestic high-speed rail’s future depends on acknowledging that existing institutions and practices have not produced the desired outcomes.”
• The study, based on interviews with 66 experts in the field, makes five recommendations for the federal government, industry, universities and project leaders at the state and local levels to accelerate the process of implementing high-speed rail projects.
• “There is an opportunity to transform intercity travel and American cities” by following the recommendations laid out in the report, the study concludes.

Dive Insight:

“We at Amtrak are entirely supportive of this [study],” said Andy Byford, senior vice president of high-speed rail and development at Amtrak, calling into a webinar held about the report Monday. Byford added that Amtrak will publish its high-speed rail strategy by the end of July.

The study focuses on projects that meet the International Union of Railways’ definition of high-speed rail: new lines that allow speeds of at least 155 mph. That includes the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s Los Angeles-San Francisco project, Brightline West’s Las Vegas-Southern California line and Texas Central’s proposed Dallas-Houston route.

“We’ve been trying to develop high-speed rail in the U.S. for a long time. We have not really succeeded,” Eric Goldwyn, study author and a professor of transportation and land use at the Marron Institute, said during the webinar.

The study’s five recommendations call for the federal government to commit to long-term funding and staffing, for the industry to adopt technical standards set by the U.S. Department of Transportation; for stronger ties among universities and industry; for project sponsors to invest in staff to develop and manage well-defined projects; and for separating the planning process from environmental reviews. 

“You need a real federal commitment to doing this,” Goldwyn said. The report notes that earlier efforts to promote high-speed rail under the Clinton and Obama administrations failed to gain ongoing support. Passenger rail lacks long-term funding through mechanisms such as the Highway Trust Fund, he said.

Regarding the final recommendation, Goldwyn said that internationally, planning is independent of permitting. In the U.S., however, the typical process under the National Environmental Policy Act requires a federal agency to include a range of alternatives that accomplish the proposed project’s goals. According to the study, this results in “Allowing the threat of litigation to delay project schedules, initiate an unending cycle of design changes, [and] embolden third parties to tack on betterments to project scopes.”

Project planners need to be able to separate those processes, the study says, which will require “support from governors, state legislatures, and the federal agencies awarding billions of dollars in grants to construct nationally significant projects.”

Two dedicated high-speed rail lines are now under construction in the U.S., promising to bring a transportation technology that has long been common in Europe, Japan and China. More routes are being studied, with at least five in the planning stages. “We are just getting warmed up,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said at the 2024 U.S. High Speed Rail Conference in May.

“There [have] been maps floating around for years, if not decades, depicting a nationwide high-speed rail network,” said Ezra Silk, political director at the U.S. High Speed Rail Coalition, a group of industry and labor advocates. Silk sees the U.S. hitting a “tipping point” as soon as the first of these new projects begins operating. “We need to have a real pipeline of projects around the country if we're going to be moving towards the national system in time to deal with climate change,” he said.

The coalition today released a 20-page guide for high-speed rail advocates on how to get started on organizing, building community and political support and finding initial and long-term funding. “We’re really trying to get this into the hands of local leaders who care about their regions and understand that this could be perhaps one of the most transformative things that's happened since the interstate highway system,” Silk said.

The document lists five stages of the high-speed rail life cycle: project initiation, project development, final design, construction and operations. “It starts with recognizing that this is going to be a complicated undertaking that's going to require a multifaceted effort to get going,” said Bernard Cohen, principal author of the guide and senior advisor for planning and operations at Alternate Concepts, a Boston-based transit service provider.

The guide lays out the beginning steps of an HSR project. First, Cohen said, “You need to start thinking about building toward a mature organization. Secondly, you need to start engaging with organizations and people who might be interested in supporting a high-speed rail project, and you need to work with them to begin to build those relationships. The third thing is you need to start some technical planning.”

The initial steps include lining up potential supporters, conducting a preliminary feasibility study, identifying risks and obstacles and developing a political outreach strategy. “The optimism, which is really important at this stage, needs to be tempered with a realistic sense of what the risks are,” Cohen said, “because projects like high-speed rail are going to have really strong supporters and are going to inevitably invoke some opposition.”

Even at an early stage, funding will be needed for planning and marketing materials. Cohen suggested asking for money from the businesses in the area the new HSR line would serve, as it could bring them a broader sphere of potential employees. Advocates should also explore local and federal funding options and consider approaching labor unions who may benefit from job creation, he said.

The road map encourages advocates to build a diverse group of supporters with varying skills. Cohen named expertise in communications, community engagement and technical planning as key additions to the team. But the most important skill set for a leader, he said, is the “ability to define and articulate the vision for what high-speed rail could do for their region … That person needs to have credibility [and] needs to have good contacts with important players in the region.”

Cohen said he believes the road map “can be helpful in sidestepping some of the challenges that create a more protracted process.” 

But Silk warned that launching a campaign for what will be a multi-billion-dollar project “is not for the faint-hearted.” He said, “These are some of the biggest and most complicated infrastructure projects in the world, and delivering them in the U.S. is challenging.”

More than 3 billion passengers ride high-speed trains around the world each year, but just over 12 million ride the United States' only high-speed rail line in Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, where Acela trains reach speeds of 150 mph. The U.S. has fewer miles of high-speed rail than 10 other countries, according to the International Union of Railways. 

“We’re really going to need a series of campaigns in all the major regions of the country, coming from ground up, pushing for these high-speed rail corridors,” Silk said. “Now's the time to strike.”

An air of optimism prevailed at this year’s U.S. High Speed Rail conference, held May 14-15 in Washington, D.C. With the Las Vegas to Southern California line starting construction, the California project continuing to build and Amtrak reviving the possibility of a Dallas to Houston high-speed rail line, “the outlook has never looked brighter” for high-speed rail in the U.S., said Andy Kunz, president and CEO of the US High Speed Rail Association, in opening remarks Tuesday.

“This year is one we're going to remember in the history of high-speed rail,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “And we are just getting warmed up.” The conference featured Buttigieg in conversation with Ray LaHood, transportation secretary from 2009 to 2013, during the Obama administration. 

Buttigieg said he sees the possibility of a budding domestic high-speed rail industry, “taking its place alongside the auto industry.” However, with funding from the 2021 infrastructure law ending after fiscal year 2026, “we do need to think about the sustainability of rail funding,” he said.

The proposed Texas Central project to connect Dallas and Houston by high-speed rail dates back at least 10 years, when the environmental review process began, but appeared to stall out during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then in August 2023, Amtrak announced it was in talks with Texas Central Partners to advance the project.

Andy Byford, Amtrak’s senior vice president of high-speed rail development programs, said at the conference Wednesday that the project “will be transformative: 90-minute journeys between Dallas and Houston, with all of the economic benefit that that would generate.”

Byford also said Amtrak is taking a holistic approach to Texas rail travel, including both its conventional trains and working with the North Central Texas Council of Governments on a separate project to connect Dallas and Fort Worth by high-speed rail. “It's part of the broader strategy of Amtrak to get people riding the rails again, to upgrade the whole of the system and to fit in where it makes sense to identify corridors that we do think have merit and take them forward,” Byford said.

Brightline West, which will connect Las Vegas and Rancho Cucamonga in Southern California, is a public-private partnership, having received $3 billion in federal grants for the $12 billion project. “We are trying to be as efficient as we can with the capital spend,” Brightline CEO Mike Reininger said at the conference. The company expects the 218-mile rail line to open in 2028, in time for the Summer Olympics being held in Los Angeles.

Asked if Brightline is considering other high-speed rail projects in the U.S., Reininger said he had no news to report, but added, “Here's a clue: 200 to 300 miles apart, big cities, lots of existing travel, broken infrastructure systems, that's where a high-speed train will work. So wherever that exists in the United States, we are interested in it.”

But will people get out of their cars and take to the rails? “I am firmly convinced that the first time that the first customer buys that first ticket for that first true high-speed rail on U.S. soil, there will be no going back,” Buttigieg said at the conference. “People will expect and demand it everywhere.”

Dive Brief:

• Brightline West announced Wednesday that it selected Siemens Mobility to manufacture 10 train sets for the railroad’s high-speed rail line connecting Las Vegas and Southern California, expected to open in 2028.
• Siemens is adapting a European high-speed train for the U.S. market, and said it will create a new production facility in an as-yet undisclosed location. These vehicles will be the first 220-mph train sets built in the U.S., the company said in a press release.
• The Brightline West contract, which is subject to final agreements, includes a 30-year rolling stock maintenance contract to keep the trains in running order.

Dive Insight:

Two high-speed rail lines are now under construction in the U.S., creating a market for speedy trains to run on them. Brightline West began construction April 22 on its 218-mile, $12 billion high-speed passenger rail line. It is only the second new line capable of speeds over 160 mph that is under construction in the U.S., the other being a California project aiming to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco. 

Siemens Mobility builds rolling stock at its North American rail manufacturing hub in Sacramento, California, where it manufactures light-rail vehicles, 125-mph locomotives and the train sets for Brightline Florida, Amtrak and other passenger railroads.

Marc Buncher, Siemens Mobility North America CEO, said in a statement that when the Brightline West trains enter service, “it will be one of the most pivotal moments in the history of American rail.”

The zero-emission electric-powered train sets, named American Pioneer 220, will be built specifically for the U.S. market. The seven-car trains can carry up to 450 passengers, depending on configuration. According to Siemens, they will feature level boarding and allow wheelchair passengers to move easily from car to car throughout the train.

Brightline CEO Michael Reininger said in a statement that the momentum building for high-speed rail “will culminate in new jobs and a new supply chain that will establish the foundation for a high-speed rail industry from coast to coast.”

The California High-Speed Rail Authority is also close to choosing its bullet-train provider. The Authority said in April that it will solicit proposals from Siemens Mobility and Alstom Transportation for its 220-mph LA to San Francisco route, and that it hopes to award a contract by the end of 2024. The Siemens AP 220 train sets will be interoperable with the California high-speed rail project, the press release states.

Dive Brief:

• Construction began Monday on the $12 billion Brightline West high-speed passenger rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area, the company announced in a press release. Brightline CEO Mike Reininger said the goal is to open to passengers by 2028, when Los Angeles is set to host the Summer Olympics.
• Crowds of supporters and dozens of elected officials, including U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, attended the groundbreaking in Las Vegas of the privately led effort, which is one of the largest infrastructure projects in the nation.  
• With speeds of 200 miles per hour and no grade crossings, the 218-mile rail link between Rancho Cucamonga, California, and Sin City would cut travel times in half compared to driving, to about two hours, via fully electric trains. That speed will surpass Amtrak’s Acela in the northeastern U.S., currently the country’s fastest train, which can run up to 150 miles per hour.

Dive Insight:

Parent company Brightline Holdings’ model is to connect pairs of cities at a distance that is too short to fly and too far to drive. Brightline West marks the company’s second system.

“This is a historic project and a proud moment where we break ground on America’s first high-speed rail system and lay the foundation for a new industry,” said Brightline founder Wes Edens in the release. “Today is long overdue, but the blueprint we’ve created with Brightline will allow us to repeat this model in other city pairs around the country.”

Brightline already operates a line between Miami and Orlando in Florida, which travels at maximum speeds of 125 mph. It began initial service between its South Florida stations in 2018, and opened its $5 billion Orlando International Airport extension in September 2023. The company has plans to further expand its system to Tampa, Florida’s Space Coast in Cocoa and the Treasure Coast in Stuart.

Unlike California’s much-delayed high-speed rail project, Brightline mostly uses existing routes, which eliminates the need to acquire large swathes of land. The Brightline West route will largely run within the median of the often-congested I-15 and has full environmental clearance. 

The line skirts the Mojave Desert and includes stops at Apple Valley, Hesperia and Rancho Cucamonga in California. It is expected to serve more than 11 million passengers annually, taking millions of cars off the road.

Building Brightline West

Brightline signed a memorandum of understanding in March 2023 with two union groups: State Building and Construction Trades Council of California and the Southern Nevada Building Trades Union. The Brightline West project will create 10,000 direct union construction roles, per the release. Members of the High-Speed Rail Labor Coalition will operate and maintain the line.

The company picked Austin, Texas-based Atlas Technical Consultants to manage geotechnical engineering and design. Brightline did not respond to Construction Dive’s request about other contractors involved with the project.

In December 2023 the project received a $3 billion grant from the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Grant Program, funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and in January the DOT awarded it $2.5 billion in private activity bonds. The rest of Brightline West is privately funded.

Building Brightline West will entail more than 160 new structures — including viaducts, bridges and wildlife crossings — and use 700,000 concrete rail ties, 2.2 million tons of ballast and 63,000 tons of steel rail, per the release. It will also include 322 miles of overhead lines to power the trains and as well as 3.4 million square feet of retaining walls.

Dive Brief:

• Amtrak is now leading a proposed Dallas-Houston high-speed rail project, Andy Byford, Amtrak’s senior vice president of high-speed rail development programs, told reporters at this week’s Southwestern Rail Conference in Hurst, Texas. 
• In August, Amtrak entered into a non-binding agreement with Texas Central, the company behind the project, to determine the project’s viability, according to a press release. Amtrak is currently conducting due diligence, Amtrak spokesperson Marc Magliari told Smart Cities Dive.
• Byford is quoted by news outlets saying that if the project goes forward, trains could be running in the early 2030s.

Dive Insight:

Planning for what was originally conceived as a private-sector project began at least 10 years ago when the Federal Railroad Administration started the required environmental review process, but progress stalled with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Amtrak entered the picture last year, after bringing Byford aboard to focus on high-speed rail opportunities and strategy in the U.S. Currently, Amtrak’s only high-speed service is along the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, D.C., with top speeds of 150 mph. When new Acela trains enter service this year, they will be capable of running up to 160 mph. Texas Central plans to use Central Japan Railway Company’s Shinkansen trains, which initially will operate at 186 mph.

Byford previously led transit systems in New York City and Toronto, and he served as London’s commissioner of transport prior to joining Amtrak. His appearance at the conference came just days after the White House said in a published statement that the U.S. Department of Transportation and Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism “welcomed Amtrak’s leadership of the Texas Central High Speed Rail Project.”

But Magliari cautioned that “it's not a done deal.” Terms of the partnership between Amtrak and Texas Central are subject to a non-disclosure agreement, he said. “We're still some distance from making a binding decision to fully engage on this project.”

The project also faces other hurdles. Some landowners along the route have objected to property acquisitions by Texas Central and only about 30% of the land required for the rail line has been obtained. Texas Central owes more than $600,000 in delinquent property taxes, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Still, Byford was optimistic. “I really do think it's viable,” he told NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. “I think it is the most compelling city pairing in the U.S. But if ultimately we can't make the case, we can't raise the money or if people really don't want it, then there are plenty of other viable city pairings.”

The White House said in a Wednesday fact sheet that the U.S. Department of Transportation and Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism “welcomed Amtrak’s leadership of the Texas Central High Speed Rail Project.”

The proposed railway would connect Dallas and Houston using the Central Japan Railway Company’s Shinkansen technology. The White House statement was released during the official visit of Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, signaling support for the project from the highest levels of the two nations’ governments.

“I think there is enormous potential in this vision,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said of the Texas Central project in an April 7 interview aired on NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. He called the Dallas-Houston corridor “an excellent candidate for high-speed rail,” citing the population’s distribution across the region. “You have two major population centers that are a long drive or a very short flight away from each other.”

Planning for the 240-mile bullet train route goes back at least 10 years, when the Federal Railroad Administration began the environmental review process, which was completed in 2020. Amtrak and Texas Central Partners said in August they were looking into a potential partnership to move the project forward.

“Having Amtrak involved gives the project some gravitas,” US High Speed Rail Association President and CEO Andy Kunz told Smart Cities Dive. But he also pointed out that Amtrak has little history in developing new rail lines. “Whether or not they can deliver a $20 billion project is a question,” he said.

The project received a federal planning grant in December, and the White House’s recent statement said, “The successful completion of development efforts and other requirements would position the project for potential future funding and financing opportunities.”

The project has some Republican support in Congress. In a November hearing of a subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, said, “I like the idea of that rail line between Houston and Dallas.”

But the Houston Chronicle reported Friday that Texas Central owes $623,000 in delinquent property taxes and faces a lawsuit filed in the Texas Supreme Court by nine county attorneys. Some landowners along the route have objected to property acquisitions by the railroad, especially with construction stalled.

High-speed rail projects tend to entail challenges that can cause delays, controversy and cost overruns, according to new research from AECOM, but there are ways to execute them smoothly. 

The Dallas-based contractor’s report delves into industry trends and how to make these notoriously challenging projects successful. It is based on a survey of 112 senior decision-makers involved in high-speed rail projects around the world.

The growth of rail is key to decarbonizing the transportation industry, and the report expects such projects to boom in coming years. Yet U.S. rail projects typically take longer to complete and are more expensive than similar ones built in other countries, separate analysis from the Eno Center for Transportation found. That’s in part because U.S. public transit agencies rarely have the structure, authority or experience to deliver a major transit construction project. 

Unique obstacles

Another challenge is that rail construction is often spread over longer timelines than other megaprojects, and this extended duration brings risks, according to the AECOM report. Political parties change and public opinion can shift as rail lines are developed. 

The H2 project in the U.K. is an example of a project falling victim to political changes — new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak canceled the effort when he took office last year, citing ballooning costs and mismanagement.

Plus, inflation is hitting these projects especially hard, causing them to go over budget and hampering expansion. In fact, 73% of survey respondents in AECOM’s report worry that the rising cost of construction, equipment and materials could stop projects already in progress.

And funding is another major concern, as cost overruns have derailed high-speed rail projects. A notable U.S. example is California’s bullet train, which now has a funding gap of more than $100 billion, jeopardizing its full buildout and therefore its full utility. 

Other major issues include land acquisition, property rights and disputes over right of way. There will inevitably be people who, while in favor of the idea of high-speed rail, are unhappy about the way in which specific proposals affect them, per the report, as well as those who lack awareness of the benefits. 

The report also noted that complex approval and permitting processes can lead to delays and extra costs.

Best practices

While every high-speed rail project is unique, the successful ones do have throughlines. AECOM’s report highlighted several best practices to streamline delivery:

• New funding models.
• Greater regional and international cooperation.
• Long-term decisive political leadership.
• New design and construction.
• Increased collaboration and industry outreach.
• User-centric design and engagement.
• Design-to-cost and disciplined cost control.

Rail construction evolving

While many of these elements are out of builders’ hands, some are within their control. In fact, 79% of respondents are excited about the prospects for new construction methods, which can reduce the time and cost required to get high-speed rail projects operational. 

Examples include modular construction methods, standardization for key elements and more advanced machinery for tasks such as tunneling. Tunnels are being constructed using the cut-and-cover method, and the use of prefabricated arches has helped to save time, costs and carbon, according to the report.

In five years’ time, the top two most impactful innovations are expected to be energy-efficient design and low-carbon materials, which can further enhance the positive environmental impact of rail projects. 

“One of the things I’m most excited about is that we’re looking to operate entirely on renewable power,” said former California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Brian Kelly in the report. “We have land in the rights-of-way parcels to host solar facilities, which will also mean we can offer our service without taxing the power grid.”

How to better build rail

The question of how to fund high-speed rail infrastructure looms large in light of its massive up-front cost. Public funding remains key, but there are also successful examples of private funding for these projects, such as the Brightline rail in Florida and coming soon to connect Los Angeles and Las Vegas. 

Brightline illustrates the importance of leveraging existing transportation corridors to expedite land acquisition and permitting while also reducing costs. Public-private partnership models often bring a deeper degree of financial rigor in adhering to project budgets, the report notes.

It is also vital to get land rights resolved before moving ahead with projects, report authors said. Strong government leadership, including planning, management and policy, is essential for success. Successful projects tend to shift opinions, easing the way for the development of new lines and additional capacity.

“Big ideas and plans only get you so far. To get past that inflection point where the trajectory of growth shifts significantly, you have to have people enjoying the high-speed rail experience. You have to demonstrate the benefits,” said Brightline CEO Michael Reininger in the report.

Dive Brief:

• U.S. Reps. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., introduced legislation Monday to invest $205 billion in high-speed rail over five years.
• More than 25 House members signed on as sponsors, all Democrats, representing 16 states including Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Nevada, Oregon and Virginia.
• Moulton and DelBene outlined the potential benefits of high-speed rail in a news release, including clean transportation between city centers, economic development around train stations and making the United States more competitive with China.

Dive Insight:

High-speed rail projects have gotten a boost lately with more than $6 billion in federal funds going toward two projects in California and Nevada, which are among seven projects in various stages of planning and construction across the country. Those projects also include Amtrak’s effort to revive the dormant Texas Central project to connect the state’s two largest cities, Dallas and Houston.

The Moulton-DelBene plan would invest $41 billion annually, giving priority to high-speed rail project applicants based on equity, resilience and economic development potential. Regions not served by commercial aviation or where the U.S. Department of Transportation subsidizes aviation routes through the Essential Air Service program would also be given priority, the release said. The bill would also include incentives for transit-oriented development by state and local transportation agencies and the private sector. 

“By investing in a national high-speed rail network, we are not only alleviating strain on our highways and airports and creating safer communities, but we are also strengthening productivity and lowering carbon emissions,” DelBene said in a statement. 

High-speed rail advocates expressed their support of the legislation as well. Andy Kunz, CEO of the U.S. High Speed Rail Association, noted in an email that Moulton first introduced the bill in 2021 with three co-sponsors and now has 25 co-sponsors for the reintroduced bill. “The growing support for the American High-Speed Rail Act is great news,” he said. 

Jim Mathews, president and CEO of the Rail Passengers Association, said in a statement, “People should have the freedom to choose safe, reliable, fast, environmentally friendly trains as an alternative to congested and dangerous highways and expensive airlines.” 

During a subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing in November, members of both parties expressed support for high-speed rail. Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, said, “I like the idea of that rail line between Houston and Dallas.” 

Dive Brief:

• The U.S. Department of Transportation announced on Jan. 23 its approval of $2.5 billion in private activity bonds for the Brightline West project to build a high-speed rail line between Southern California and Las Vegas, according to a press release.
• The company, which will also receive up to $3 billion in federal grants, said on Jan. 16 that it is beginning fieldwork in Nevada in preparation for groundbreaking on construction.
• Meanwhile, the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s CEO, Brian Kelly, is stepping down from his role a little more than a month after the White House announced $3.1 billion in funding for the authority’s bullet-train project which could someday connect Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Dive Insight:

The United States lags behind many other countries on high-speed rail, but the tide is turning as projects begin to secure major pots of funding and more projects are planned. Other high-speed rail lines in the planning stages include routes serving the Pacific Northwest, Texas and the Southeast.

The Brightline West route will largely fall within the median of Interstate 15. Initial field work will take place in three locations in Nevada, including one within Las Vegas. The work is being done in coordination with the Nevada Department of Transportation, and construction is expected to take some four years.

The private activity bonds newly approved for Brightline West are tax-exempt and are frequently used for transportation projects, significantly lowering the cost of capital for the private-sector company. The user repays the bonds. The US DOT previously approved $1 billion in such bonds for Brightline West. 

“Building a high speed rail corridor from Las Vegas to Southern California will drive economic investment and opportunity across the region,” said U.S. Transportation Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg.

Leadership changes in the CA high-speed rail world

Kelly joined the California High-Speed Rail Authority as CEO in 2018, having previously served as the first secretary of the California State Transportation Agency. He joined the authority 10 years after California voters approved Proposition 1A to provide $9.95 billion in general obligation bonds as seed money for the ambitious bullet-train project planned to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco. By then, public support was fading and a state auditor’s report heavily criticized the authority. 

The political winds also shifted in both Washington, D.C. and Sacramento, California. In 2019, the Trump administration canceled a $929 million funding agreement with the high-speed rail authority. Newly elected Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state would focus only on the Central Valley portion already under construction, saying, “There simply isn’t a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, much less San Francisco to LA.” The governor has since become a supporter of the full project and public opinion is now more favorable, according to a recent poll by the University of California, Berkeley.  

Kelly worked to steady the ship, and “restructured the entire organization,” the authority’s chair, Tom Richards, told The Fresno Bee. “My goal when I took this position in 2018 was to help stabilize the organization and improve performance such that policymakers would once again consider investing in the project,” Kelly said in his resignation letter. “While there is more work to do, this goal has largely been achieved.”

A subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee met Wednesday to discuss intercity passenger and high-speed rail. Members on both sides of the aisle largely expressed support for high-speed rail, but some Republicans took issue with the Los Angeles-to-San Francisco project that is over budget and lags behind its original timeline for completion.

“I’m on the record supporting high-speed rail,” said Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, adding, “I like the idea of that rail line between Houston and Dallas.” But Nehls said in his opening statement that the California project “has been plagued by a failure to account for actual costs” along with construction delays and land acquisition issues. “The California high-speed rail project shows the failures of poor planning and government incompetence,” he said.

Lee Ohanian, economics professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, testifying at the hearing, fielded Nehls’ questions about the challenges that California’s project faces. “California HSR began its life with $10 billion in voter-approved bond funding but without a legitimate business plan,” Ohanian said. “Some of this reflects mistakes in management and accountability, but it also reflects the failure to identify and mitigate the risks and uncertainties with projects of this size.”

But there is another California high-speed rail project both parties like: the Brightline West plan to connect Las Vegas and Southern California. The project is led by the same company that established 125-mph train service in Florida, a 235-mile line connecting Miami and Orlando with cities in between, largely built with private-sector investment.

“Private sector HSR is incentivized to find routes where there’s substantial demand, which is what we all want, and they’re also incentivized to build efficiently, which is what we all want,” Ohanian said. “This suggests significant potential for private-public HSR partnerships.”

Nehls also questioned Austin, Texas, Mayor Kirk Watson about passenger rail and the proposed Texas Central HSR project to link Dallas and Houston. While Watson demurred that he wasn’t as knowledgeable about the high-speed rail project, he said, “I would argue that the Texas triangle is the lowest-hanging fruit in the nation for improving intercity passenger rail service.”

Referring to the fast-growing metropolitan areas of Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio, Watson said, “Projections show that the developing passenger rail service in that triangle will produce robust ridership with a relatively modest capital investment because of the population, the density of that population, the economy and the demographics.”

Democrats, led by Rep. Donald Payne of New Jersey, took the opportunity to lambast Republicans for looking to cut funding for Amtrak by about $1.6 billion in the 2024 fiscal budget. “Fortunately, these drastic cuts were too severe to pass the House, allowing the Senate to pursue a more balanced bill aligned with the success of the bipartisan infrastructure law,” Payne said. House Republicans have also looked to pass legislation blocking any federal funding for the LA-San Francisco California project.

Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa of California, a longtime opponent of the California high-speed rail project, asked witness Stacey Mortensen a theoretical question as to whether she would abandon the project. Mortensen is the executive director of the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority, which oversees passenger rail service in a California region that includes the area where the high-speed project is now under construction.

“I think at some point, a step has to be taken backward,” she replied. “I know there’s extreme pressure on the High-Speed Rail Authority to keep moving forward, to keep solving the problems, to keep finding the money.”

The California High-Speed Rail Authority and Brightline West are both vying for a slice of the $4.6 billion that will be available through the Federal Railroad Administration’s Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Grant Program for projects outside the Northeast Corridor. Sources tell Smart Cities Dive that a decision from the FRA is imminent.

Dive Brief:

• High-speed rail in the U.S. could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, bring economic benefits to cities and improve regional connectivity, concludes a report published this month by the Mineta Transportation Institute.
• The report notes that the only trains in the U.S. capable of operating faster than 150 mph are Amtrak’s Acela trains, but they reach those speeds for only about 50 miles of track along the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, D.C. 
• The Mineta report looks at the benefits touted by several high-speed rail projects, but all are still in the planning phase, except one under construction in California.

Dive Insight:

Worldwide, more than three billion passengers ride high-speed trains along nearly 35,000 miles of track each year. But in the U.S., many intercity passenger trains operate at speeds less than 125 mph and are often limited to 79 mph where they share the right-of-way with freight railroads.

The Mineta report states that shifting travelers “from flying and driving to electrified [high-speed rail] would reduce [greenhouse gas] emissions.” It cites projections from the California High-Speed Rail Authority, which seeks to build an 800-mile high-speed rail line connecting Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento and San Diego, and from Brightline West, which is looking to construct a 186-mph line between Las Vegas and Southern California. Brightline claims that its project would remove 3 million cars each year from the travel corridor.

In an effort to encourage travelers to use electric, high-speed trains and thus lower greenhouse gas emissions, France banned commercial flights on some short routes in May. However, only three flying routes were cut, and the decree has been criticized as having little effect.

Both California projects estimate that thousands of jobs have been or will be created. The California High-Speed Rail Authority says in its 2022 business plan that it has created 7,800 jobs building the line in the state’s Central Valley, while Brightline West says it will create over 10,000 construction jobs and more than 1,000 permanent jobs in operations and maintenance. These two projects are competing for federal grants that will help them build the high-speed lines.

The Mineta report concludes that “a shift to [high-speed rail] from other modes of transportation could help the public sector save money by reducing the need for highway, airport, and other infrastructure improvements.”

Dive Brief:

• Amtrak and Texas Central Partners said Wednesday in a press release that they are evaluating a potential partnership to advance a proposed high-speed rail line connecting Dallas and Houston.
• The Texas Central project dates back more than a decade, and while the private-sector company behind the idea began the process of acquiring land for the railroad’s right-of-way in 2016, little has been heard from the railroad since 2020.
• Former New York City Transit President Andy Byford joined Amtrak in March to lead the national passenger railroad’s long-term strategy for high-speed rail.

Dive Insight:

The United States lags far behind China, Japan, Spain and many other countries that have extensive networks of bullet trains connecting major cities. Just one new high-speed rail project is under construction in the U.S. — the California project to link San Francisco and Los Angeles — while the Brightline West project between Las Vegas and Southern California may start construction later this year.

Texas Central’s plan for a 240-mile line connecting the state’s two largest cities with 186-mph Shinkansen trains ran into opposition from landowners along the route, political pushback and a legal fight over the use of eminent domain to acquire needed property. But the rail line also won approval in 2020 of its environmental impact statement, and developers signed a $16 billion construction contract in 2021.

“If we are going to add more high-speed rail to this country, the Dallas to Houston Corridor is a compelling proposition and offers great potential,” Byford said in a press release. Amtrak said it and Texas Central have submitted applications to federal grant programs.

The U.S. High Speed Rail Coalition applauded the announcement in an emailed statement. “It’s exciting to see Amtrak and Texas Central work together to explore the viability of a world-class high-speed rail line between Dallas and Houston,” said Andy Kunz, president and CEO of USHSR.

According to Amtrak, the Texas Central intercity passenger rail line will move passengers between Houston and Dallas in less than 90 minutes while reducing traffic along I-45 by 12,500 cars per day. When in operation, Texas Central could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 100,000 tons per year.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said in a press release that “the potential partnership of these two companies will accelerate the planning and analysis necessary for the successful implementation of a modern, efficient, and environmentally sustainable rail system connecting Houston and Dallas.” 

In an interview with Smart Cities Dive last year, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., said, “High-speed rail is not just transformative for our biggest cities; it’s transformative for cities and towns all across America. And it’s a way to bring our country together, to show America that investment does not have to just be about our big coastal cities.”

Amtrak also said in the press release that it is looking to increase and expand intercity passenger rail in Texas and in surrounding states.

Dive Brief:

• Speakers from California, Georgia and Texas outlined their plans for more high-speed rail projects at a conference in Washington, D.C., last week as a growing number of states and cities are looking into ways to bring bullet trains to their communities. 
• The 2021 infrastructure law provided up to $12 billion over five years for rail projects outside the Northeast Corridor, which can include new intercity passenger rail service such as high-speed trains.
• “The president wants to go faster on rail. He wants more rail to help with the climate and he wants to produce a lot of jobs and he sees high-speed rail as a part of that,” said White House Senior Advisor and Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu at the conference.

Dive Insight:

The nation’s two most prominent high-speed rail projects are the California effort to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco — the first segment of which is under construction — and the proposed Brightline West project between Las Vegas and Southern California. Both are looking to tap the nearly $4.6 billion in federal funds available for the 2022-2023 fiscal years.

But studies and planning are underway for several other projects that participants described at the conference, organized by the US High Speed Rail Association.

Clement Solomon, division director at the Georgia Department of Transportation, said the agency is looking at routes including Atlanta-Charlotte, North Carolina; Atlanta-Savannah, Georgia; and Atlanta-Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Chattanooga project received a final Tier 1 environmental impact statement and record of decision from the Federal Railroad Administration, while the Georgia DOT is conducting a Tier 1 EIS for the Charlotte route, which it hopes will someday connect with high-speed rail lines to Washington, D.C. 

Last year, the Georgia DOT received $8 million in federal funds to begin environmental studies for the Savannah route. “This was a Congressionally-directed spending project that we have embarked on,” Solomon said at the conference.

Texans have been waiting for, and some have fought against, a proposed Dallas-Houston high-speed rail line for nine years, which was to be privately financed. But little has been heard from the company since 2020 and no construction has begun. However, the North Central Texas Council of Governments has done “a lot of high-speed rail planning,” said the organization’s program manager for transportation planning - Metropolitan Transportation Plan, Brendon Wheeler, speaking at the conference. Wheeler said that the council had studied high-speed rail linking Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, in 2020, and has looked at regional planning for Dallas-Houston and Dallas-San Antonio lines.

Besides the two existing California projects, four cities, the county of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority are jointly backing a proposed 54-mile high-speed rail line to connect Palmdale and other high desert cities with the future Brightline West corridor and the California high-speed rail system.

The California State Transportation Agency recently granted $8 million to the High Desert Corridor Joint Powers Agency last year for preliminary engineering and other development activities. “Hopefully by sometime next year … we should be environmentally cleared with a Record of Decision to move forward and get into final design and construction,” said Arthur Sohikian, executive director of the HDC JPA.