CA High Speed Rail

May, 2008: TunnelCast sat down with Rod Diridon Sr., Chair Emeritus and Governor's appointee to the California High Speed Rail Authority Board, for a status report on the State's HSR plans.

Can you give a brief overview of the project?

What is the prefered route?

How extensive is the tunneling component?

California voters are being asked to pass the $9.95 billion bond measure in November 30, where will the rest of the funding come from?

2 bores vs 1?

The major tuneling component in the first phase will be along the Pacheco Pass alignment, how much tunneling is anticipated?

Are you concerned about the recent failure of several PPP's around the world and why will this project succeed where others haven't?

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Snapshot

Paula Wallis reports for TunnelTalk

Location

700 miles from San Francisco and Sacrameto in Northern California to Los Angeles and San Diego in the South.

Tunnels

30 to 50 miles of tunnels on starter line from San Francisco to Los Angeles and Anahiem.

Type

Rail

Cost

Estimated $30 to $40 billion

Owner

California High Speed Rail Authority

Funding

PPP with $9.95 billion public bond

Pass bond measure on November, 2008 ballot