California High-Speed Rail Authority Industry Forum

January 30 to 31, 2025
May Lee Complex
651 Bannon St.
Sacramento, CA 95811

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The California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) invites industry experts to join us for an in-person two-day forum to hear the latest program progress and join in a series of discussions on technical topics related to the advancement of high-speed rail in California.

Attendees will hear directly from the Authority’s new CEO, Ian Choudri, and other senior government leaders who will share the vision for the next phase of this historic program.

One-on-One Meetings:

Additionally, the Authority would like to invite industry leaders and innovators to join us for in-depth, one-on-one discussions. The goal of such meetings will be for the Authority to obtain expert industry feedback on critical technical topics. These discussions will be an opportunity for you to pose questions, share ideas, and offer expert feedback to inform the Authority on the latest industry trends, technology and innovative approaches that will help deliver high-speed rail to California.

The Authority welcomes one-on-one discussions with industry experts on topics such as:

Funding & Financing (Including Private Investment) – Opportunities and constraints for potential private investment opportunities and public-private financing, delivery, and operations models. The goal is to gather input and feedback from select groups within the private sector infrastructure investment and rail systems operations communities, as well as potential TOD and station area development partners.

Track System and Track Builders (Installation) – Supply of track system components, installation and testing using advanced materials and construction techniques, and innovative track-laying strategies including insights on interoperability of trains on different track standards, UIC and AREMA recommended practices and wheel to track interfaces.

Rail Manufacturers – Focused especially on sourcing and supply of a local high-speed rail from steel manufacturers, reviewing existing UIC or AREMA technologies including certification to comply with regulatory requirements (i.e., Buy America) high-speed standards, and interoperability with other networks.

Tunnelers – State-of-the-art approaches to design and construction of tunnels, including more efficiently overcoming engineering challenges and value engineering to reduce tunneling costs. How to integrate the normative approach in the design of railway tunnels (e.g. NFPA vs TSI).

Power Generation / Renewables – Solicit input and feedback from a range of seasoned professionals within the renewable energy generation, transmission, distribution, storage, investment, energy management and finance communities. The conversation should provide the Authority with broad insight into the deployment of renewable energy sources and storage to reduce capital and operating costs and increase resilience and energy independence.

Utilities Investigation – Innovative approaches to identify necessary utility relocations early in the process. Best practices for expedient relocation and sequencing the work.

Geotech – Solutions incorporating maturing and advanced technologies, such as non-intrusive investigations and machine learning methods, to predict and manage geotechnical challenges, ensuring the successful development, long-term durability, and safety of railway networks.

Infrastructure Costs Estimators – Discussion with industry infrastructure cost estimators on capital and life-cycle costs of the program, including data-driven approaches to better estimate cost and timeline as well as dynamic impact analysis for potential design changes.

Maintenance & Operations (Facilities & Trains) – Best practices for increasing operational efficiency and long-term maintenance strategies with a focus on a safe and sustainable approach for facilities (stations and depots), trainsets, and infrastructure. By combining discussions with opportunities for companies to share their expertise, the Authority will gather insights on challenges, trends, and innovations in rail O&M.

Rail Systems – State-of-the-art proven rail systems solutions, including solutions to efficiently and flexibly design and install contact wires, feeder cables, and catenary wires; ETCS L2 / BL4 compliant train control systems for high-speed applications; and to industry on supply chain and applicability of FRMCS (Future Railway Mobile Communication Systems).

Cable Manufacturers – OEMs and suppliers of contact wires, catenary wires, feeder cables, and catenary wires with specific requirements for high-speed rail operations, as part of other contracts.

Bridges and Other Structures – State-of-the-art approaches to design and construct bridges and structures more efficiently overcoming engineering challenges, for example through standardization, modularization, off-site manufacturing, segmental viaduct deployment systems, and automated construction techniques.

System Integrators – Innovations in the integration and holistic management of all key railway components such as signaling, trainsets, tracks or power supply. What role should industrials play in system integration and what are their lessons learned from similar railway projects?

Technology & Innovation – First-hand insights into innovative solutions and technologies spearheaded by companies across the above-mentioned industry topics. These innovations should focus on the end-to-end process, encompassing funding, planning, manufacturing, building, and operations.

The Authority has previously and/or is currently undertaking work pertaining to these topic areas and appreciates and continues to consider the valuable input provided from industry to date. This event will give the Authority and industry the opportunity to continue and deepen discussion and investigation regarding the topic areas. These meetings will not provide an opportunity to discuss specific business opportunities or to present qualifications. For this event, one-on-one discussions will be in-person only on January 30 and 31, 2025.

Availability for the One-on-One Meetings are limited and not all industry participants who request a meeting may be granted one. Participation in One-on-One Meetings is completely voluntary. Non-participation in the industry event and/or One-on-One Meetings will in no way affect future procurement outcomes.

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Additional details including an event agenda will be announced soon. In the meantime, email questions related to the event to outreach@hsr.ca.gov.