California High-Speed Rail Authority’s Board of Directors decided to request proposals from Alstom Transportation and Siemens Mobility shortlisted for high-speed train contract.

The “board action continues our urgent march to put federal dollars to work, creating new industries and economic opportunity around high-speed rail. By the end of this year, we will know who will build California’s first high-speed trains, setting the course for better, more accessible rail travel in California,” Tom Richards, the Chairman of Authority Board of directors said.

With proposals due in the fall, the Authority hopes to award a contract by the end of the year. The contract also includes the provisioning of 30 years of trainset maintenance, inclusive of a mid-life overhaul.

The contract covers the delivery of 6 trains which are able to operate at 355 km/h and to be tested at up to 390 km/h. The contract includes two prototype trains to be delivered in 2028 to support static and dynamic testing and trial running. In the first phase, high-speed trains will make 18 daily round trips reducing travel time to 90 minutes from 3 hours currently. According to estimation, the value of the new trains is USD 533.7 million including the driving simulator.

The evaluation will consider 60% price bid and 60% the technical part. The price includes capital delivery costs of the six trainsets, spares, and driving simulator and operational costs for maintenance and the mid-life overhaul.

Federal Railroad Administration’s statute requires final assembly of trainsets to be in the U.S. from 100% domestic components, unless justified waivers granted by U.S. Secretary of Transportation and based on dollar value, over 90% of high-speed trainset components are domestic, but certain items are still not produced in the U.S.

California high-speed railway line will link San Francisco to the Los Angeles basin on a 3-hour journey. The system will eventually extend to Sacramento and San Diego, totaling 1319 km (800 miles) with up to 24 stations. Over a decade, USD 11.2 billion have been invested for country’s first high-speed rail system, being created 92,000 job that generated USD 18 billion in total economic activity. The investment also created USD 7 billion in labor income, which is all forms of employment income associated with the activity, including employee compensation (wages and benefits) and business owner income.