Groundbreaking solar-powered high-speed rail project nears a major milestone — here’s what you can look forward to

California’s long-promised high-speed rail project has officially gotten underway, with features that should have everyone excited for the future.

According to El Diario 24, California’s high-speed train will be fully powered by solar energy, making it the first high-speed rail system in the world powered exclusively by green energy. The train is projected to have a top speed of 220 miles per hour and will eventually service passengers from Sacramento to San Diego via Los Angeles, Central Valley, Fresno, and San Jose.

The key to the project is a massive solar farm that is being built. Per the report, the train will need 44 megawatts of power to run. To generate that kind of power, the California High-Speed Rail Authority is building a huge 552-acre solar farm. The train will have a battery that holds 62 megawatt-hours of charge to help it function in the event local utilities fail while also giving the train extra power for things like climate control to keep it comfortable for passengers.

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The project won’t come cheap, as the current price tag sits at $128 billion, but it could revolutionize the transportation industry.

High-speed rail is still growing globally as a viable transportation option. Canada recently announced plans for a train connecting Quebec City and Toronto that will cover the distance between the cities in just three hours. China unveiled a hydrogen-powered high-speed train that produces no planet-warming pollution. Even Texas, long a bastion of dirty-energy-dependent transit, has announced plans for a high-speed rail line connecting Dallas and Fort Worth.

California hopes to have the solar line up and running by 2030, with construction starting in 2026.

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“California is a fantastic place to do renewable energy,” Margaret Cederoth, director of planning and sustainability for the California High-Speed Rail Authority, said. “It’s the best solar installation in the United States. We already have in our right-of-way portfolio some very well-configured parcels that allow us to do renewable energy generation at the scale necessary to supply the amount of electricity we need to entirely offset our load.”

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