Project Management for California High-Speed Rail Project

This report provides a project management plan for the California High-Speed Rail Project, including project scope, budget assumptions, constraints, stakeholder involvement, project organization structure, project control mechanism, reporting framework, and project planning with milestones.

Project Management

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................3
PROJECT SCOPE...........................................................................................................................................3
BUDGET ASSUMPTION................................................................................................................................4
ASSUMPTION...............................................................................................................................................4
What is known.........................................................................................................................................4
What is unknown.....................................................................................................................................5
CONTRAINTS................................................................................................................................................5
STAKEHOLDER AND THEIR INVOLVEMENT..................................................................................................6
PROJECT ORGANISATION STRUCTURE AND ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES................................................8
PROJECT CONTROL MECHANISAM..............................................................................................................9
REPORTING FRAMEWORK.........................................................................................................................10
PROJECT PLANNING WITH MILESTONES...................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Project management plan is a critical task that entails designing, coordinating, and directing
personnel needed to complete a project successfully. It adds leadership to initiatives in additional
to management. It also guarantees that project scheduling is in place to achieve specific priorities
(Wei and et.al, 2020). This report based on the project of California High-Speed Rail is a public
sector development high-speed rail line being built in the United States state of California. Its
purpose is to integrate the Anaheim Geographic Transportation Intermodal Centre point in New
York and Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles with the Marketing automation Metro
Station in San Francisco via the Upper Midwest, supplying a 380-mile one-seat trip among
Union Station and San Fran in 2 hours and 40 minutes (610 km). Further expansions (in Phase 2)
are intended to link southern to San Diego County sites via the Inland Empire and northward to
Sacramento. As evidence becomes available, it will be deployed in a number of self-sustaining
portions.
PROJECT SCOPE
Project objectives: The High Speed project's objectives are to provide a transition towards low-
carbon transportation while also creating opportunity for people to made progress condition
where it is most needed. The specifications for the project's scope, which is a high-speed railway,
are as tries to follow:
Expected quality: The technology will go from San Francisco to the Los Angeles basin in less
than 3 hours at rates of up to 200 miles per hour. The network would ultimately stretch 800 miles
to Sacramento and San Diego, with up to 24 terminals. Furthermore, the Authority is
collaborating with partner nations to undertake a government rail reconstruction strategy that will
spend billions of dollars in local or regional rail network to satisfy the state's infrastructure needs
in the twenty-first decade.
Cost: According to the 2022 strategic plan, the complete 500-mile high-speed line connecting
Los Angeles and San Francisco will account for up to $105 billion, up from $100 billion 2 years
ago. Whenever taxpayers authorised a debt to assist in building the railway in 2008, the
authorities predicted that it would cost $33 billion (Fan and et.al, 2018).

Time: The California High Speed Rail Authority is the development's national government. In
January 2015, the California high-speed rail project started construction in Fresno. The first
273.6km-long leg in the Upper Midwest is scheduled to open in 2028.
Benefits: The existence of HSR is projected to stimulate the development of the nearby cities the
HSR stations, in additional to employment and income ranges in generally. It is expected to
assist improve population size in such places while also reducing "building sprawl" onto nearby
farms.
BUDGET ASSUMPTION
As per a 2022 business plan study, department of transportation authorities added $5 billion to
the funding for California's high-speed rail project, increasing the total expected cost to $105
billion. The $68 billion high-speed train system will run for 1,287 kilometres. The construction
has only received partial federal funding, including $2.6 billion in state bonds. The national govt
will cover 25% to 33% of the development expenditures ($10 billion to $12 billion). P3
(community collaboration) financing will bring in another $4.5 billion to $7 billion.
ASSUMPTION
What is known
High-speed rail in California will interconnect the government's mega-regions, boost the
economy and a healthier environment, generate jobs, and conserve agrarian and conserved areas.
In approximately three hours, the Phase 1 network will link San Francisco to the Los Angeles
basin via the Central Valley, with trains possible to reach 200 miles an hour. Sacramento and San
Diego will be included in Phase 2. Infrastructure costs, the capacity to utilize American Crisis
and Reconstruction Act funds whilst it's still accessible, and the capacity to issue bonds Cap and
Trade revenue for future usage are all crucial considerations (Huang, Xi and Ge, 2019).
While contrasted to other prospective early capital investments, the Early Rail Company
determined that the Central Valley line offers the best value, a finding backed up by an external
evaluation committee.
Merced and Bakersfield ecological papers are complete — progressing design will offer the
knowledge essential for building model

In Northern and Southern California, funding from Proposal 1A are being put to use, including
$714 million for Caltrain electricity from San Francisco to San Jose and $423 million for the
rebuilding of Los Angeles Union Station.
Further than the Central Valley, the Agency is funding key graded separating projects, notably
$84 million in San Mateo and $77 million in Los Angeles (Rosecrans/Marquardt Grade
Separation Initiative).
What is unknown
The California High-Speed Rail project is undoubtedly the most divisive major public-works
development in the nation. Many individuals feel slighted since the train's anticipated cost has
risen from over $40 billion after lawmakers originally authorized the program in 2008 to almost
$64 billion in 2016. Especially given the fact that building appears to be moving at a glacial
pace. As per the Los Angeles Times, a leaked Federal Rail Administration risk report from early
2017 said that the project was considerably over price with behind time. Apart from that, the
train is a regular target for large state legal change. Last November, a nationwide ballot issue
proposed a change to the constitution requiring chosen on the basis for "megaprojects" spending
upwards of $2 billion, which was not so quietly directed at the railway. Several of the train's
obtained from various might be jeopardized by a prospective change on the vote in June (Hu and
et.al, 2022).
CONTRAINTS
Regardless of the fact that the nation's commercial rail infrastructure has long been recognized as
in need of modernization, these attempts have failed to acquire pace. The reasons for this are
based in post-World War II geography, technology, and government policies. California's high-
speed rail system is the country's first really high-speed rail network to be conceived,
constructed, constructed, and shortly operating. The Board has and will continuing to tread new
path and serve as a model for other high-speed rail projects in the United States by engaging on
this task. When contrasted to other big infrastructure projects that have been completed under
more established provincial and national legal requirements and established professional
specifications, this creates unique issues.
 Ecological Certifications Finance and Sponsorship

 Purchase of Correct
 Seismic Regions are traversed via long, deep pipes.
 Integrating of Increasing Complicated Key Capabilities
The US$68 billion project, which was originally inaugurated in January, is divided into
numerous parts that will be finished between 2018 and 2028. The source of finance represents
for about 20% of a $1.37 billion segment that concludes in Fresno. The development team
examined schedule and budget risks, ranking those in order of likelihood and conducted
computational models to understand how each risk might impact the task. The analysis shows a
90 percent certainty that the savings plan will be large enough to cover unanticipated
development expenditures (Yu and et.al, 2021).
The project's main risk may be stakeholder problems relating to land procurement. In
response to many objections and court fights that have slowed work, the train administration has
only secured 15 of the 544 quality requirements for the 65-mile second stage as of March. In
technologically speaking, the wide range of complex systems necessary for HSR projects
necessitates complicated building procedures and a good standard of construction industry.
Furthermore, at the pre - project phase, there may be instances when the precision of geological,
landscape, and hydrological studies is inadequate, or architectural designs are faulty. Due to the
fact that HSR projects frequently cover many governmental areas, discrepancies in quality
standards within another project are probable during the designing phase. These elements add to
the technical risk of HSR operations.
STAKEHOLDER AND THEIR INVOLVEMENT
Participants who have an involvement in the site's achievements are associated with risk
customers. Interior stakeholders are those individuals who have a particular interest in the
company, however external agencies are anyone that is motivated or harmed by the site's activity
but are not personally fully engaged. Stakeholder analysis is helpful for identifying, classifying,
and affect results in a High Speed Rail project (Liu, Qian and Huang, 2018). The section
discusses the results of a stakeholder engagement for High Speed Rail:

High power and poor interest: National and local municipalities are entities with specific
energy but level of interest in the High Speed Rail construction. Those were external
stakeholders whose outcome based knows how to keep them engaged by delivering them with
relevant data or news feeds.
High power and high interest: Users with strong power and high interest in High Speed Rail
include senior executives, professionals, and major investors. All of them are internal users who
make substantial measures to connect.
Low power and high interest: Employees and customers are both low-power and high-interest
customers in High Speed Rail. This is very well because they contribute greatly in the successful
project.
Low power and low interest: The wider populace and union officials are the only investors in
high-speed rail. These were all external customers that are uninterested in the construction
project (Chen and et.al, 2021).

PROJECT ORGANISATION STRUCTURE AND ROLES AND
RESPONSIBILITIES
California has spent over two decades planning, constructing, and currently developing the
nation's first high-speed rail line, and Cordoba Corporation has been there from the start. The
Fresno to Bakersfield Segment Notification of Determining (NOD), Record of Ruling (ROD),
and Surface Transportation Commission decision were finally implemented by Cordoba
Company. This was the final stage in the NEPA and CEQA processes, paving the path for
construction to begin on this historical construction. Under component of the stretching,
hundreds of sessions were held throughout the study area, and the community contributed over
2200 writing and spoken opinions, each of which required evaluation and reaction.
Hierarchical organisation architecture is used in the High Speed Rail project. It is a pyramid-
like organisation wherein one individual is in control of everything and works with one or more
colleagues who are successive underneath each others. Inside this framework, there is a correct
line of succession that follows each other. High Speed Rail has the following hierarchical
system:

The following are the roles and duties of the planning phase participating in High Speed Rail:
Executive Committee of the HSR: The following are the primary functions and duties of the
High Speed Rail Executive Committee:
• Supervising the very day implementation of board policy and guaranteeing that good
management practices are adopted and sustained.
• Handles high-level concerns in the site's workforce.
• Communicate clearly with the board, employees, and organizations.
• Exhibit objectivity, transparency, initiative, responsibility, and self-sacrifice.
Panelists on the programme: The following are the functions and responsibilities of the High
Speed Rail programme committee:
• Assisting the Senior Accountable Owner in making choices.
• Providing feedback and comments on concerns and obstacles affecting project development.
People panel: The role and functions of the people panel in High Speed Rail are as follows:
• Controlling the narrative and creating group norms for staff.
• Equalizing panelist involvement.
• Providing quality guidance to employees (Esposito, Nelson Ferlie and Crutzen, 2021).
Commercial and investment panel: The following are the roles and responsibilities:
• Undertaking development is essential as well as proper research studies.
• Find new ways to attract potential investments.
Analyze risks and provide financial recommendations.
PROJECT CONTROL MECHANISAM
It refers to approaches that keep a project on track during the execution of construction projects
while also keeping expenses under budget. Cybernetic control is applied in the context of High

Speed Rail, and construction companies play an important role. It is a project control system
with inputs or outputs. High Speed Rail is a construction whose results are in the shape of
milestones that must be reached. Project managers prioritize outcomes using these techniques.
Whenever these milestones fail to meet the expected criteria, project managers evaluate the issue
and apply cybernetic control to determine whether there is adequate cause to adjust actions. The
use of the technology in the High Speed Rail project lowers departures from specifications (Jiang
and et.al, 2020).
REPORTING FRAMEWORK
It's a method of enhancing communication with those other project participants. People
participating in the High Speed Rail project interact using a top-down method. It is a technique
of interaction in which top executives and lower-level management staff share information,
ideas, and directions. Furthermore, through the administrative system utilized in High Speed
Rail, data or orders from the nation's top authorities inside the enterprise flow down to staff
within the organization. Verbal, non-verbal, and textual transmission media or media are
employed inside the project. Facial expression communications, messages, emails,
teleconferencing, internet chat systems, and telephone calls are among the other communications
channels employed in the initiative.
PROJECT PLANNING WITH MILESTONES
Project management plan and milestones for high-speed rail projects are expanded through to the
project life cycle, which comprises the following different stages:
Initiation: At this phase, the project's goals and requirements are determined. High-speed rail is
the most significant rail building project in the next century, with broader design, procurement,
building, and delivering goals. After the objectives have been approved, the organization will
begin to produce alternatives. Elevated activities and choices that are critical for accomplishment
are the milestones at the start of the High-Speed Rail project.
Planning: Following commencement, the following terms of planning, in which the project
solution is created in great depth and probable measures necessary to fulfill the objectives are
prepared. Construction companies plan and organize project budgets by giving estimations of
personnel, equipment, and infrastructure costs in the context of High Speed. Outcomes that meet

timelines are a high-speed accomplishment at this level. Management teams in High Speed
establish important milestones for procurement and pre-work for unfulfilled deliveries.
Implementation: This is the stage of the project where the strategy is put into action and the task
is completed. People participating in High Speed carry out duties and submit status reports
through staff meetings during the project implementation. Inside this case, the development's
milestone involves the use of funds and also labor. It identifies the amount of time and resources
that will be spent on the task (Shao and et.al, 2018).
Closure: The concentrate here is on delivering project results to clients, ending vendor
relationships, managing project information, and announcing venture closing to all participants.
The journey of high-speed rail transit for consumers or the people of the United Kingdom are
nearing its end.
CONCLUSION
Following the conversation, it was determined that project management is important
because it guarantees that things are done correctly and that actual value is produced against
existing opportunities. A risk register is a statement that outlines all of the recognized risks and
limitations, as well as the probability and repercussions of them arising, the steps done to
mitigate the risks, and the individual in charge of overseeing them. Stakeholder analysis is a
methodology for identifying, prioritizing, and affect results based on their power and interests.

REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Wei, B. and et.al, 2020. Seismic responses of a high-speed railway (HSR) bridge and track
simulation under longitudinal earthquakes. Journal of Earthquake Engineering, pp.1-22.
Fan, H. and et.al, 2018. High-speed railway fastener detection based on a line local binary
pattern. IEEE Signal Processing Letters, 25(6), pp.788-792.
Huang, T., Xi, J. C. and Ge, Q. S., 2019. Spatial differentiation and integration optimization of
an urban agglomeration tourism system under the influence of high-speed railway
network evolution. Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy, 12(2), pp.349-376.
Hu, Z. and et.al, 2022. Assessment of optimal ground motion intensity measure for high-speed
railway girder bridge (HRGB) based on spectral acceleration. Engineering
Structures, 252, p.113728.
Yu, J. and et.al, 2021. Study on the influence of trains on the seismic response of high-speed
railway structure under lateral uncertain earthquakes. Bulletin of Earthquake
Engineering, 19(7), pp.2971-2992.
Liu, Y., Qian, Z.D., Zheng, D. and Huang, Q.B., 2018. Evaluation of epoxy asphalt-based
concrete substructure for high-speed railway ballastless track. Construction and Building
Materials, 162, pp.229-238.
Chen, J. and et.al, 2021. A deep learning forecasting method for frost heave deformation of high-
speed railway subgrade. Cold Regions Science and Technology, 185, p.103265.
Esposito, G., Nelson, T., Ferlie, E. and Crutzen, N., 2021. The institutional shaping of global
megaprojects: The case of the Lyon-Turin high-speed railway. International Journal of
Project Management. 39(6), pp.658-671.
Jiang, L. and et.al, 2020. Simplified calculation modeling method of multi-span bridges on high-
speed railways under earthquake condition. Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering, 18(5),
pp.2303-2328.
Shao, Z. Z. and et.al, 2018. Evaluation of large-scale transnational high-speed railway
construction priority in the belt and road region. Transportation Research Part E:
Logistics and Transportation Review, 117, pp.40-57.