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P&T Technical Presentation: Building California High-speed Rail – A Look at the First Construction Package (CP1) (Room Sagamore Ballroom 3-5)

In June 2013, the California High-Speed Rail Authority embarked on an exciting and groundbreaking new chapter in both California’s and the nation’s history with the $1 billion award of the first construction package of the California High-Speed Train project to Tutor Perini/Zachry/Parsons (TPZP), a Joint Venture. Construction Package 1 (CP1) consists of 32 miles of new double-track high-speed train (HST) guideway starting north of the City of Madera and ending south of the City of Fresno. The HST system is designed to accommodate passenger rail service up to 220 mph. The majority of the HST alignment is parallel and adjacent to active BNSF, Union Pacific Railroad and San Joaquin Valley Railroad main lines, requiring numerous new railroad grade separations. CP1 includes 23 new railroad overpasses, 4 new railroad underpasses, 2 major HST trenches, 3 HST viaducts and 3 separate railroad shooflies. The key rail design considerations associated with the construction of the new HST trench and the railroad underpasses in downtown Fresno are the implementation and phasing of the shooflies required to maintain active railroad operations. This paper will present the complicated track phasing and railroad cut-overs required for the 3 CP1 shooflies highlighting the challenges faced, and the innovative solutions that were developed by the TPZP design team, in constructing the high-speed train infrastructure in a dense, urban setting.