It marks the start of track-laying for the state’s long-delayed high-speed railway, which is designed to reach speeds up to 354km/h.

When finished, this stretch of guideway will extend north and south into the future Merced and Bakersfield extensions.

The Kiewit team will lay track and systems on finished guideway stretches as soon as they’re ready.

Materials like rail, concrete ties and ballast have already been sourced to speed up installation.

When California’s high-speed rail authority announced the tender last November, the contract had a price tag of $3.5bn. It has been touted as one of the US’ largest rail infrastructure contracts.

In July 2025, US Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced that the Federal Railroad Administration had terminated grants amounting to around $4bn on the grounds that no high-speed track had been laid after 16 years and roughly $15bn having been spent.

Announcing this contract, Kiewit noted that of the full 795km route from San Francisco to Los Angeles/Anaheim, 745km of it has been environmentally cleared for construction.

Ian Choudri, California’s high-speed rail authority’s chief executive, said: “We are now accelerating toward installing the first true high-speed rail track ever built in the Western Hemisphere and doing it in a way that delivers for California quickly and economically.”

The Merced to Bakersfield route is due to be completed by 2033.

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