Team picked for $348m section of Californian high-speed rail

Ferrovial is set to be awarded a US$348m (£237m) contract for a 35km stretch of high-speed railway in California, USA.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority has identified California Rail Builders as the apparent best value proposer for the design-build services contract for construction package 4.

The bid is more than US$150m under the client’s upper estimate for the work. The authority had estimated the cost of construction package 4 to be between US$400m to US$500m.

The segment crosses the counties of Tulare and Kern and the cities of Wasco and Shafter. California Rail Builders, is made up of Ferrovial Agroman US Corp, which that brings together Ferrovial Agroman and high-speed rail designer Euroestudios.

“We continue to attract world leading design and construction firms who want to be a part of high-speed rail in California,” said authority CEO Jeff Morales. “People are already and will continue to see major construction projects underway on over 100 miles [160km] of infrastructure in the Central Valley as we move this programme forward.”

In the competitive bidding process, five teams submitted proposals for design-build services contract. The others were:

  • Central Valley Connection Builders – FCC Construccion and Corsan-Corviam Construccion
  • Dragados/Flatiron Joint Venture –  Dragados USA and Flatiron West
  • Salini Impregilo/Security Paving Joint Venture – Salini Impregilo and Security Paving Company
  • Tutor Perini/Zachry/Parsons a Joint Venture – Tutor Perini Corporation, Zachry Construction Corporation and Parsons Transportation Group
  • The proposals were evaluated and ranked based on 30% for technical merit and 70% on price.