RICARDO PROVIDING ENGINEERING AND SAFETY SUPPORT FOR CONSTRUCTION OF CALIFORNIA’S HIGH-SPEED RAILWAY

As a sub-consultant to Network Rail Consulting Inc, Ricardo will bring experience in managing safety and technical compliance on high-speed systems around the world and help ensure the system is developed in line with the highest industry standards.

First dedicated high-speed railway in the US
The first dedicated high-speed railway in the USA, California's high-speed network will see 200-mph trains linking the Los Angeles basin with San Francisco, with later branches to Sacramento and San Diego.

The fully operational network will present a viable alternative to air and road transport in the state of California, offering shorter journey times between its main commercial and residential centres, and significantly reducing pollution and carbon emissions across the region.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) is responsible for planning, designing, building, and operating the high-speed network, which will eventually total 800 miles of railway with up to 24 stations. In addition, the Authority is working with regional partners to implement a statewide rail modernization plan that will invest billions of dollars in local and regional rail lines to meet the State’s 21st-century transportation needs.

With construction underway, CHSRA has awarded Network Rail Consulting Inc a contract to provide a range of systems engineering expertise to CHSRA’s Operations Delivery Branch through to May 2029, with support drawn from a select group of partners including Ricardo.




International expertise of High-Speed Rail
Ricardo's responsibilities extend across system safety and certification management tasks – including onsite safety audits, risk identification exercises and safety case development – with a remit that includes oversight of the safety programs maintained by suppliers and contractors of subsystems such as the track, infrastructure and rolling stock.

Ricardo will also provide teams of engineers experienced in the technical specifications of high-speed rail systems who, for example, will undertake detailed evaluations of the trainset design and manufacturing process.