Fresno, CA
Stop on the proposed 17,000-mile maglev network. Next stop: Visalia, CA (39.3 mi).
About Fresno
Fresno is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region, as well as the most populated city in Central California. It covers about 114.7 square miles (297 km2) and had a population of 542,107 as of the 2020 census, making it the fifth-most populous city in California, the most populous inland city in California, and the 33rd-most populous city in the nation.
Source: Wikipedia summary (full article). Population and facts as published there.
Cost breakdown (proposal-scale estimates — see math)
| Item | Basis | Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal construction | Large-city terminal ($2–4B range) | $3.0B |
| Land acquisition | Regional factor 1.5× on $200M base | $300M |
| Track: Fresno → Visalia | 39.3 mi × $500M/mi | $19.6B |
| Annual operations (share) | 2% of $3.0B terminal | $60M/yr |
| Stop total (excl. annual ops) | $22.9B |
Best terminal location (proposed)
The Fresno Amtrak station / Fulton district. Fresno's Amtrak station is one of the busiest San Joaquins stops, already feeding the Central Valley's intercity demand. The Fulton district's redevelopment has created downtown parcels near the tracks for the first time in decades. California HSR is already building through Fresno, so guideway approaches can be shared — and the catchment is the ag capital's business and farm-export travel.
Before / after
Aerial mock-up (illustrative, not an engineering rendering). Left: the proposed site today. Right: with the maglev terminal.
- Sanger — citrus-packing town on CA-180 east of Fresno.
- Dinuba — raisin-and-grape town on the CA-99 corridor.
- Tulare — dairy and ag city on the 99 corridor south of Fresno.