California High-Speed Railway

Challenge

The first dedicated high-speed railway to be constructed the USA, California's new network will link the Los Angeles basin with San Francisco, followed by later branches to Sacramento and San Diego.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) is responsible for planning, building and operating the network, which will eventually extend across 800 miles and feature up to 24 stations.

In addition, the Authority is working with regional partners to implement a multi-billion modernisation plan of local and regional rail lines.

CHSRA appointed Network Rail Consulting Inc to provide a range of systems engineering expertise to its Operations Delivery Branch, drawing support from a select group of trusted technical partners including Ricardo.

Approach

Our responsibilities extend across system safety and certification management tasks – including onsite safety audits, risk identification exercises and safety case development – with a remit that includes oversight of the safety programs maintained by suppliers and contractors of subsystems such as the track, infrastructure and rolling stock.

We will also provide engineers experienced in the technical specifications of high-speed rail systems who, for example, will undertake detailed evaluations of the trainset design and manufacture process.

Results

Supported by a dedicated team based in Sacramento, CA. our experts are bringing experience of managing safety and technical compliance on high-speed systems around the world, and helping to ensure the system is developed in line with international best practice and the highest industry standards.

The progress of California’s new railway is already inspiring proposals for further high-capacity rail systems across the country, backed by the largest allocation of federal investment in passenger rail for more than 50 years.