University of California Transportation Center

This report represents that conclusions of the first year of IURD's study of the potential for a high-speed passenger train service in California. Seven previous studies have each dealt with a specific high-speed train technology; each attempted an evaluation, standardized so far as data permitted, of its technical and economic viability.

The present report first summarizes and synthesizes these seven studies, attempting a systematic point-by-point comparison. Then it goes on to develop a possible high-speed network for California in the light of known facts about the state's physical and economic geography. It develops physical profiles for such a route, and uses available cost data to produce an estimate of total construction cost. It gives simulations of timings between the major urban areas. These data will be used as basic inputs to the second stage of the work, now under way, which will analyze the market prospects for such a system and the ways in which it may be financed.