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How High-Speed Rail is Setting a New Standard for Green Infrastructure

This week in Auckland, our acoustics specialist, Charlie Bladon, will present to the Railway Technical Society of Australasia on the effect of train-induced vibration on buildings.

WSP Sustainability Director Margaret (Meg) Cederoth said the California High-Speed Rail Authority is delivering a system that will transform travel and set a new standard for green infrastructure.

 

‘By employing and integrating the principles of sustainable design we aim to achieve LEED® platinum certification.

 

‘After just one year of construction this program has already achieved ambitious sustainability targets, including recycling 44,000 tons of construction material, 99% of the total, reducing site criteria air pollutant emissions by 42% compared to average, and delivering jobs in one of the areas of the state with the highest unemployment.’

 

‘This transformative investment for California highlights how we can convert sustainability vision into reality – once complete this project will reduce freeway and airport congestion and reduce carbon emissions by an average of 1 to 1.3 million metric tons annually,’ Ms Cederoth said.

 

The California High-Speed Rail program will enable passengers to travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco at speeds of up to 354 kilometres per hour, making the trip in under three hours (compared to almost 10 hours by car).

 

WSP  is the program manager for this project, which includes leading the planning and oversight of the environmental process on behalf of the California High-Speed Rail Authority.

 

Ms Cederoth is a keynote speaker at the 2016 Infrastructure Sustainability Conference.

When: 25 October, 9.20 am

Where: Sydney

More: ISCA

 

About Margaret (Meg) Cederoth

Margaret Cederoth is an AICP and LEED accredited Urban Planner with experience working in the areas of transportation and sustainability planning, land use, and international planning across North American and the Middle East. She currently leads a team engaged in the corporate sustainability initiative for WSP's US transportation company, and serves as the manager for the sustainability program for California High-Speed Rail. For an example of her writing see The Intersection of Resilience, Sustainability and Livability, September 2015