A consortium led by Plenary Americas will spend the next six months examining California's bullet train project for opportunities for a future public-private partnership to expand the system beyond the first segment that's currently under construction.
The California High Speed Rail Authority said Wednesday it had wrapped up negotiations and inked a final co-development agreement with Momentum Alliance Partners, which
The 30-month contract kicks off an initial six-month predevelopment and delivery evaluation phase, which the CHSRA said would focus on "identifying viable strategies to accelerate future system expansion beyond the segment currently under active construction between Merced and Bakersfield."
Momentum Alliance Partners could also support future phases "should the authority advance subsequent partnership opportunities," according to CHSRA. A future P3 would be backed by a securitization of future cap-and-invest revenue from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund that allocates $1 billion through 2045.
"This agreement reflects growing market confidence in that strategy and the long-term potential of California high-speed rail as a transformative investment in California's future," said CHSRA CEO Ian Choudri in a statement. "As construction advances and we prepare to begin high-speed rail track installation this year, partnerships like this allow us to evaluate how private-sector expertise, financing and delivery models could help accelerate system expansion."
The consortium will evaluate opportunities to design, build, operate, finance and maintain one or more segments of the high-speed rail program and focus on key factors like availability versus revenue payment structures, where to build and opportunities to commercialize assets, the authority said.
The team will also assess long-term commercialization opportunities like broadband and fiber networks, data infrastructure, utility and transmission corridors, station area development, and strategic land use partnerships.
Monetizing the land around the train is key to future financial stability, Choudri has said. The latest 2026 business plan proposes setting up "enhanced infrastructure financing districts" that would allow the CHRSRA to capture a piece of future local taxes generated around stations — a proposal that some local governments have threatened to sue to block.
The authority is also lobbying state lawmakers to pass
The consortium's members include Plenary Americas, CDPQ Infra, Keolis, SNCF Voyageurs, Jacobs, Sener, SYSTRA, Setec, Arup and Steer. Some of the companies are also funding a high-speed rail project in Alto, Canada, said advocacy group U.S. High Speed Rail.
"Bringing on a co-development partner is a major breakthrough for California high-speed rail," said the group's president and CEO Andy Kunz in a statement. "This opens the door to expand rapidly into major population centers in the Bay Area and Southern California behind the power of private capital."
The authority in December floated a Request for Qualifications for the CDA to deliver the project "faster and more efficiently." Momentum Alliance Partners was sole bidder and only respondent to the RFQ.
