Texas Central signs design-build contract with Salini Impregilo to build Texas high-speed train

Texas Central has awarded a design-build contract for the high-speed train to Salini Impregilo and its U.S. subsidiary Lane Construction Company.  

Salini-Lane is to supply the civil and infrastructure scope for the new high-speed train service between Houston and Dallas. This includes the design and construction of the viaduct and embankment sections along the entire route, the installation of the track system and the alignment and construction of all buildings and services that will house maintenance and other rail system equipment. 

This design-build agreement authorizes a set of early works for the joint venture to continue advancing engineering design, detailed planning, interface definition and other key prerequisites necessary to start construction. This agreement is the result of their previous work providing front-end engineering and design for the train's civil infrastructure. Other services included optimizing execution plans, strategies and logistics, as well as performing analysis to develop construction costs and schedule estimates. 

“This agreement brings us one step closer to beginning construction of the civil infrastructure segments of the project,” said Carlos F. Aguilar, CEO, Texas Central. “Salini-Lane’s unmatched track record with rail infrastructure, and very specifically its world class high-speed rail expertise across the globe, will be central to the completion of America’s first end to end high-speed rail system.” 

Pietro Salini, CEO, Salini Impregilo Group said, “We are thrilled and honored to bring our large-scale railway expertise to this unique opportunity. This inclusion in bringing high-speed train service to Texas and America, through leading the project’s design and construction, is an invaluable experience.” 

The Texas train will be based on Central Japan Railway’s Tokaido Shinkansen train system, the world’s safest mass transportation system. The new Shinkansen N700S is the sixth generation of this train and will be debuted before this summer’s 2020 Olympics. The system has transported more than 10 billion passengers in over 54 years with a perfect record of zero passenger fatalities or injuries from operations, and an impeccable on-time performance record. 

The project’s total investment is expected to be approximately $20 billion with the civil works estimated at $14 billion. This would conservatively lead to an estimated $36 billion in economic benefits state-wide over the next 25 years, including the creation of 10,000 jobs per year during peak construction and 1,500 permanent jobs when fully operational. Texas Central and its partners are committed to the Business and Workforce Opportunity programs, created to ensure a highly skilled workforce and promote the growth of Texas-based small, rural, minority-, woman-, veteran- and disabled individual- owned businesses by offering fair and competitive opportunities to bid and participate in building and operating the Texas high-speed train.