11. Case 7: California High Speed Rail Project

California High Speed Rail (CAHSR or CHSR) is a publicly funded high speed rail system which is under construction in the US State of California. The system is planned to run from San Francisco to the Los Angeles basin under three hours with speeds of over 200 miles per hour. CHSR in its pathway will connect Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal center in Anaheim and Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles with the Salesforce Transit Center in San Francisco via the Central Valley. The system will eventually extend to Sacramento and San Diego covering 800 miles with 24 stations. In order to meet the transportation needs of the modern century, the High Speed Rail Authority have plans to invest billions of dollars in local and regional rail lines. California high speed rail system is aimed to connect the mega regions of the California state and make immense contribution to the economic development of the region in a sustainable environmental context. The aim is also to create jobs and preserve agricultural and protected land. The project is owned and managed by the State of California though the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA). The CAHSRA was established by an act of the California State Legislature and was delegated to present a high speed rail plan. The plan termed Proposition 1 A was approved in the year 2008. Approximately $9 billion bond was issued for the construction of the first leg of the project. The California high speed rail system will connect 8 of the 10 largest cities in the State of California. California’ corridors are among the busiest in the nation with 5.7 million people using train services in 2020. The system is designed in such a way that in blended or shared corridors, trains will be slowed to 110 miles per hour as per regulations and in other areas the train speed will reach 220 miles per hour. High speed rail will be run on 100 per cent renewable electric energy. In 2008, the project was estimated to cost $40 billion. Electrified high-speed trains traveling at speeds of more than 200 miles per hour will connect California’s cities, making a trip between Los Angeles and San Francisco in under three hours.