California High-Speed Rail #31 Round 3 Part 3 Drone Coverage from Fresno to Madera

[@TohaBgood2]

Your videos are getting seriously good! They're becoming more artistic and pleasing. It's more than just "here's a construction update, and I put music on top of the footage". Love it! Keep up the good work!

[@pieter-bashoogsteen2283]

Agreed.

[@jamesallen8418]

After viewing your drone footage, I get now see why this project is so darn expensive. I sure it is completed within my lifetime.

[@onetwothreeabc]

I wish you have a long life!

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

Some (or many) who are skeptical of this project seem to think that the Central Valley is just one giant, flat, empty place (hence the ‘train to nowhere’), either unaware of or willfully ignoring the fact it’s home to seven million people and counting, the fifth and ninth largest cities in California, and is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the country. This high speed train is having to weave around, through, over and under all of that while maintaining a design speed of 250 mph, and having to get though Fresno is one of the best examples of that. Bakersfield and Merced will both be on viaducts for the most part. Plus this initial segment of HSR will link up with other rail and bus transit that’ll connect to other parts of the state.

[@onetwothreeabc]

@@ChrisJones-gx7fc I think CalHSR is an important project for the State of California and the State government should dedicate more funding to it.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

Glad you finally got some clear weather!

[@jasondroninaround]

Me too!

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

@@jasondroninaround here’s hoping you’re still making these videos once track and systems installation begins within the next couple years. Seeing what’s currently a dirt path with some bridges transform into a functioning electrified high speed railroad will be huge (and hopefully start to quiet the skeptics).

[@jasondroninaround]

@ChrisJones-gx7fc as long as I still have a drone, still living in Hanford, and you guys keep liking these videos, I'll keep making them :-)

[@franciscoeag]

Thank You for sharing the progress with all of us ! 😇

[@eyezak_m]

Music may be a bit intense lol, but I love seeing these updates when they come! Slowly but surely CAHSR makes progress!

[@majoratom1137]

Here’s hoping it isn’t too long until they start doing work in & around Bakersfield. For now, another excellent video. Keep up the great work!

[@jasondroninaround]

I don't know what I'm going to do when they start construction in Bakersfield. The couple of no drone zones we already have are pretty far away from the airport and we're just catching the corners of this big hourglass shape. Bakersfield on the other hand, that's going to be different. The airport, Highway 99, and the CHSR project are all parallel and really close to each other. There is a gigantic no drone zone down there :-(

[@majoratom1137]

@@jasondroninaround would filming on the ground be out of the question?

[@jasondroninaround]

That might be what I end up doing :)

[@majoratom1137]

@@jasondroninaround I only hope the no drone zone doesn't extend down to Bee Canyon or the Cesar Chavez memorial. I get it'll be awhile before the project reaches those areas, but I gotta imagine those would be areas where you could get some great footage.

[@jasondroninaround]

@@majoratom1137 fly-safe.dji.com/nfz/nfz-query here is where the drone will let me fly. In the clear areas, I fly at 150' above the ground. In the yellow and orange areas, I fly at 90' above the ground. In the blue and red areas, I don't fly at all.

[@Keikdv]

I am so glad I can shout down that crab coming out of the speakers. Nice drone action.

[@jasondroninaround]

Still trying to find the right music that everyone likes hehe

[@Yvonne-Bella]

hearing Fluffy's Gift Basket Fresno quote had me chuckling

[@jasondroninaround]

@@Yvonne-Bella I'm glad somebody caught that lol

[@jasondroninaround]

@@Yvonne-Bella Fluffy is kind of the reason the music this week is a little too upbeat. Electronica downtempo crossed with reggaeton or rock usually puts it over the top but I figured since we had Fluffy on here, I would use the reggaeton sub genre hehe

[@mb_1024]

Thanks for checking out the McKinley roundabout! It's nice to see it in relation to everything else, which is something the Authority's video didn't do.

[@rwdavidoff]

It's interesting to see the precast deck panels going in on the Belmont overcrossing even though we're in the middle of what would be the moratorium on work over the rail lines during the holiday busy season--I hope they worked something out and can get all the rest of the precast panels in and start working the sidewall forming and rebar work for pouring the final deck--it'd be good to see that structure finished and ready to take over traffic soon.

[@pieter-bashoogsteen2283]

Any structure completed is one less for the authority to worry about!

[@quadcorelatte8217]

Vibing with the music!!

[@nish221100]

Jason, CAHSR needs to hire you for their videos.

[@jasondroninaround]

@@nish221100 this channel needs to pick up because I work 50+ hours a week on my day job. I hope to eventually be able to go somewhere part-time to make more time for this channel :-)

[@rwdavidoff]

At Road 26 around 16:00 I wonder if the moratorium is holding up the bay of beams they could place over the tracks, or if they're going to hold off until the east side abutment is poured and ready, and set the remaining two bays or so together? It'll be interesting to see than in another month or two.

[@AnthonyPinkerton-d7p]

Another great video! I personally loved seeing all the barrier walls that have been completed; as well as Roads 25 and 26. It looks to me like things are accelerating?

[@rwdavidoff]

The new Venture trainsets you saw I think aren't actually two locomotives--the southbound (leading) end with the boxier locomotive I think is one of the converted cab-baggage cars, also known for short as "cabbage cars". These are old locomotives with the diesel engine stripped out and replaced by baggage storage, used as a control station remote controlling the engine on the other end when travelling in that direction. It's not as expensive as two working locomotives, but still gives a proper functioning cab for movements in the direction where the main locomotive is "shoving" as I think is seen here rather than pulling. The new Venture coaches come with cab cars, which combine a similar cab with coach seats, but they're not yet commonly in service yet--they only got the first Venture cab car like 5 or 6 months ago and they're finishing testing, I think?

[@jasondroninaround]

@rwdavidoff That's strange and interesting but they look good. I'm learning some more vocabulary. I like it. I suppose next that you're going to tell me that caboose was the cab where they kept all the booze 😂

[@rwdavidoff]

@@jasondroninaround Hehehe. The Venture cab cars will look pretty good, especially once they're running Charger locomotives more--the Venture Cab Cars are styled with similar cabs to the Chargers. They won't look quite as nice as the Via Rail Venture/Charger cab car fronts or the Brightline Venture noses, the ones ordered here by Amtrak have less of an aerodynamic nose and more of a crash resistant front bar to handle drivers who challenge trains, but they still look good I think.

[@jasondroninaround]

@rwdavidoff anything is better looking than those Superliners driving backwards with a flat nose and the door jamb, looking like a gigantic NYC Subway car lol

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

@@rwdavidoff if the HSR trains end up having the same or a similar livery as these new San Joaquin cars, that honestly wouldn’t be a bad thing. I think they look cool.

[@sdsd4139]

Where the scary clowns hang out! haha!

[@tylerspaz]

This section is taking forever

[@CATDRL2]

EPIC! EPIC! Great flight, enjoyable and fun. Nice birthday gift for me. I enjoyed your under-bridge flyover. I expect you to do that for every completed bridge (just kidding). Are you too afraid to go into that dark tunnel under the 99? It looks to me like they might have sealed off the other end just to keep people out of it, or the construction of the canal bypass left dirt piled up there. What is the purpose of the wall between the BNSF mainline and the CHSR? I can understand the portion in the cities, but there is one section south of Madera in the farmland that has it too. What's the reason for it? Thanks for the faster flyovers of the completed grade separations; they make the video flow faster. Conversely, thanks for slowing down and doing s-curves over the new constructions. As always, I enjoyed the video. It was informative and fun, and I loved the captions. Happy Holidays! I know it may be a bit lonely, but I'm in the same circumstance as you. My love of life is no longer present, so I know what you're dealing with. Best Tony

[@jasondroninaround]

@CATDRL2 I kind of had the same question a few months ago. From the sky they look like sound barriers or something. I was wondering why they were trying to hide the passenger train from the freight train or something? Then when I got to Madera County where I can drive right up to the walls and realize those walls are about 4 ft thick solid concrete and partially buried in the ground. They are to keep a derailed freight train from crossing over to the high speed rail and vice versa.

[@CATDRL2]

@@jasondroninaround People on that side of the train won't have a view with that barrier there, though. Thanks.

[@dfirth224]

To protect against derailments. That would be a mess.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

@@CATDRL2 they’re called Intrusion Protection Barrier, or IPB, walls. As others have said, they’re to prevent a derailment on the freight tracks from entering the HSR guideway, and vice versa. I believe it was something requested by BNSF and/or UP, as both railroads want them. That was one of the change orders done that added to the overall cost of the HSR project.

[@CATDRL2]

@@ChrisJones-gx7fc Thanks. Here in LA, they are blank canvas for graffiti.

[@kirknitz3794]

FYI: The emperor has no clothes.

[@CATDRL2]

Was that you driving your car at 10:33

[@poultrypants]

i dont think so, his is red. You can see it at 14:43

[@jasondroninaround]

@CATDRL2 lol no. They were just out there on a Sunday romp in the mud. We kept LeapFrogging each other all the way to Avenue 15. Once you spot my car you won't be able to unspot it. It's a little blue car. I used to be very careful to keep my car out of the shot. This made for shoulder flights because I'm more quickly went out of range. Then, I discovered that I could drive part of the way through the area that I planned on shooting next, fly back to the spot where I need to merge the two videos and shoot right through where I was parked. You can see me and my little blue car on each of the low passes that I went underneath the overpass. I would not dare do that from a long distance lol.

[@CATDRL2]

@@jasondroninaround@jasondroninaround Yes, I caught it. It's funny that I didn't see it on the first pass. Now I can't un-see it.

[@jasondroninaround]

@CATDRL2 it's like where's Waldo but instead it's where's the itty bitty car lol. I have a full size van that was my daily driver that I use for camping but that little tiny car gets over 35 miles per gallon.

[@pieter-bashoogsteen2283]

The CSHRA was working on extending construction south towards Palmdale right? Any word on when construction might start there?

[@jasondroninaround]

@@pieter-bashoogsteen2283 they have to start the section between Wasco and Bakersfield, and between Madera and Merced. The goal is to have trains running between Bakersfield and Merced. After that, I don't know. Will they connect Merced to the already existing Caltrain up by San Jose? Or, will they go to Palmdale next. I believe Bakersfield to Palmdale would be more difficult but there are already Amtrak connections to the north and I bet they want to reach that Bright Line sooner than later.

[@pieter-bashoogsteen2283]

@ And when would they start extending the construction zone?

[@rwdavidoff]

@@pieter-bashoogsteen2283 The plan from the 2024 business plan would be for the Wasco-Bakersfield and Madera-Merced sections to start civil construction in 2025, and be completed in 2028. Beyond Bakersfield, no funding is currently available, so work won't begin either until the sections Merced-Bakersfield finish, or unless California's state government allocates a more consistent and slightly larger annual funding source for the project. A lot of the delays in the whole project's history are related to "not enough funding to hire enough people to work on more sections at a time, so it takes a long time. If I understand right, a billion dollars or so of the original 2008 bond funds have _still_ yet to be released by the legislature, for instance.

[@pieter-bashoogsteen2283]

@@rwdavidoff Sounds good. So we might start construction be extended the coming year?

[@rwdavidoff]

@@pieter-bashoogsteen2283 That was the plan before the election, how that plan changes may depend a lot on if the new administration proceeds to try to claw back significant portions of the $3b allocated previously by the feds. If that situation doesn't end up in the worst case, then civil work might start this year--they're already working on utility relocations and land acquisition around Shafter and starting that process around Bakersfield and Merced per some of the recent board meetings. It might be 2026 before the really big work starts, though, especially if there's budget uncertainty.

[@jeremygrossardt7548]

The structure to the right when you pass the 180 is currently under work to be demolished so you may not see this in the future video

[@jasondroninaround]

Yes, they're moving along on that pretty well :)

[@ikea_wizard]

Can some one tell me what the walls that separate the tracks are for?

[@sdsd4139]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/d57Hlpquapxqg5Y

[@johncamp2567]

The walls are there to prevent a derailed train on either line from jumping into the path of another, on-coming train on the other track. A barrier between the fast and slow trains. Probably provides some trespass protection, too.

[@jasondroninaround]

@@johncamp2567 I didn't think about the trespass protection angle. I know they're finished pretty much out near Wasco and there's some interesting fences surrounding the tracks with strange critter guards at the top and bottom of the fence and even stranger things going on under the rails under the critter tunnels. This reminds me that the next time I go and start around 4, I need to get you guys a good detailed look at the critter protections.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

@@johncamp2567 my understanding is those were a change order from one or both of the freight railroads (like one requested it for them and the other followed suit). They weren’t part of the initial HSR design and that change order added to the costs.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

@@jasondroninaround yeah HSR will have fencing along its entire right of way to prevent anyone from climbing onto the guideway. It’s really hard to stop a train quickly, especially one going at 220 mph, or see what’s ahead of you far enough in advance to be able to stop before you hit it. There are wildlife crossings at various spots along the guideway as well so animals of all sizes can safely travel under the guideway.

[@johncamp2567]

Internet/news: Drones Spotted over Fresno, Madera along CHSR!! 💻📰😮

[@CATDRL2]

That's funny, at lesst he's flying during the day.

[@jasondroninaround]

@@johncamp2567 there was a fire really close to my house a few nights ago. My cousin was telling me that I needed to go get my drone. I was like, nope.

[@Skittles800]

when is track gonna be laid very little progress here

[@dfirth224]

That will be the last step. After everything is finished

[@rwdavidoff]

Track laying is some of the last things to happen, only after the grading and structures are complete. It'll be a while yet.

[@robguy3086]

In the Spring Business Plan from the Authority, track installation is to begin in Q4 2025, starting in CP4. Assuming no furthur delays, but I could see them pushing it off until 26.

[@AxesoftheDanes]

If the incoming Trump administration attempts to claw back the 3.1 billion awarded by the Biden administration in December 2023 and is successful this will have impacts on the construction of the project. According to the 2024 business plan, if this funding is unavailable, all the Authority has funding for at the time of that presentation is completion of the initial 119 miles of construction, but single tracked and no trainsets.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

@@robguy3086 the staging area for tracks, located near the south end of CP 4, is set to be completed in July 2025. All the rails, ties, and ballast will then need to be delivered. I believe CAHSR will use slab track rather than ballasted track, meaning the ballast that’ll be delivered could be for the sides of the guideway, not the tracks themselves.

[@lanimulrepus]

Good video... Keep up the good work... Get rid of the lousy music...