50,000 California State Fairgoers Visit High-Speed Rail Exhibit

The California High-Speed Rail Authority unveiled an interactive exhibit at the California State Fair featuring mock-ups of the future system’s trains, reports Marni Rose McFall in Newsweek.

“At the fair, visitors were invited to walk through the life-size mock-ups of train interiors, look at 3D renderings and models of the planned Central Valley stations and more,” McFall writes.

According to an information officer for the Authority, roughly 50,000 people visited the exhibit. “The 3D models show preliminary designs of four central valley stations, Merced, Fresno the Kings Tulare station and Bakersfield.”  

The long-awaited project is underway, with 119 miles under active construction between Merced and Bakersfield in the Central Valley. “Completion is expected upon the initiation of passenger service, which is slated for between 2030 and 2033. The project plans for trains to run at speeds up to 220 miles per hour, enabling a trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles in under three hours​.” The cost, initially projected at $40 billion, is now estimated to reach between $88 to $128 billion.