The California High-Speed Rail

In 1996, the California High-Speed Rail Authority was established after many demands from citizens. But, after being backed up multiple times, it received its first major funding from the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008. Still, after years of promised deadlines, the project has not been finished. The project is expected to be finished by 2033, but what is causing the delays?

The first reason is the estimation of costs. In 2008, it was estimated that the project would cost $33 billion. So, funding was allocated for this cost estimate. However, the project ended up costing a lot more, leading to unexpected funding issues. This can mainly be attributed to tunneling costs, as tunneling technology in the United States is far behind other nations. And because of this, the railroad is expected to cost $128 billion.

Another reason is the competition with third-parties. Companies such as Brightline Holdings is expected to build a similar railroad between California and Nevada. And since consumers have been reluctant to utilize public transit in the United States, these private projects have received increasing support. Also, privatized railroads have the advantage of cutting costs without substantial legal backlash. And because of this, more pushback has occurred on public projects such as this High Speed Railway.

The final reason is due to legal troubles. The 2008 plan was recognized to have many issues with the estimates and fund allocation. So, revisions were made to this plan, and a new plan was set up for submission. However, this plan was not approved in time to make these many changes to a faulty plan. So, because of this incident, and many other similar scenarios, effective funding has not reached this project on schedule.

Still, the project has its many benefits. As this railroad is entirely powered by renewable energy, this project allows for a decrease in carbon emissions in California. And, this project has provided thousands of jobs for workers in California. But the most important of these benefits is reducing the car reliance in California. Not only will this allow for traffic to be decreased, it allows for more efficient shipping of goods by railway.

As the California High-Speed Railway finishes in construction, civil engineers and others alike must consider implementing similar systems in other parts of the United States. And, engineers should take notes from this project, and try to avoid similar mistakes in order to ensure the efficient implementation of this important infrastructure.