California’s most ambitious public works program has created thousands of new labor jobs, according to a status update from the California High-Speed Rail Authority.

The bullet train project which aims to connect the Bay Area with the Los Angeles Basin has created 13,000 labor jobs since construction began in 2015, the vast majority of which have come in the last five years.

In a news release issued Tuesday, the Authority said more than 10,000 labor jobs have been created in the last five years and more than 70 percent of those jobs have gone to residents of the Central Valley.

More than 4,200 of those jobs can be found in Fresno County, 2,500 in Kern County, 1,200 in Tulare County and more than 1,000 jobs between Madera and Kings counties. Fewer than 400 of those jobs have gone to out-of-staters.

On average, around 1,400 people are dispatched to high-speed rail construction sites in the Central Valley every day, the Authority says. The jobs have gone to union workers, the majority of which come from disadvantaged communities.

In releasing news of this latest jobs milestone, the California High-Speed Rail Authority highlighted what it calls a strong partnership with the California State Building Trades.

“In 2023, the Authority marked 10 years since the establishment of our Community Benefits Agreement, which has helped create thousands of good-paying union jobs – including more than 10,000 in the past five years – with most of the jobs going directly to individuals from disadvantaged communities,” the Authority said in its Tuesday news release.

“High-speed rail construction has continued to flourish, creating good-paying construction jobs for men and women across the Valley,” said Chuck Rojas of the Fresno, Madera, Kings and Tulare Counties Building and Construction Trades Council. “As the number of construction sites continues to grow, so does the need of a growing workforce to bring the nation’s first high speed rail system to California. When construction grows, these workers and their families thrive, and we couldn’t build this system without them.”

Work is currently underway on the Merced-to-Bakersfield portion of the project known as the “initial operating segment.”

Right now, active construction work is taking place within a 119-mile section, but the Authority says it is actively working to expand into the remaining 50-plus miles that comprise that portion of the system.

There are currently 25 active construction sites in the Central Valley and the Authority says it has environmentally cleared 422 miles of the system between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Only the Palmdale-to-Burbank section has yet to receive environmental clearance, but officials say it’s expected to be cleared this summer.

To read more about the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s jobs update, click here.