The California High-Speed Rail Authority revealed a strategy on Thursday to quicken the establishment of the initial tracks for the state’s challenging infrastructure project.

The Authority’s board authorized a procedure allowing U.S. manufacturers to submit proposals to provide high-speed rail tracks and other necessary system components, according to officials.

These materials will serve in constructing the first electrified track miles on the California High-Speed Rail route, marking the U.S.’s inaugural high-speed rail track.

The Authority states that the process is being accelerated and will result in track being laid in 2026.

“Securing the track and materials essential to launch the country’s first high-speed rail track and systems installation within the upcoming year is a significant achievement,” said the Authority’s CEO, Ian Choudri. “Today, we are making tangible steps to develop faster, more intelligently, and cost-effectively, delivering a state-of-the-art, high-speed rail system that enhances economic movement, affordable housing, and a cleaner environment across the state.”

This development coincides with the nearing completion of a 150-acre rail staging area in Kern County at the southern extreme of the Central Valley section. This yard will facilitate the direct receipt and delivery of materials to the installation site by freight trains, as stated by CAHSR officials.

American manufacturers will have the opportunity to compete through six separate procurement packages as teams prepare to lay the track over the 119-mile segment presently under construction. The materials, which include rail, ties, fiber optic cables, and catenary poles, will be acquired entirely with state finances, with $507 million approved for allocation to multiple suppliers.

The lack of track having been laid has been a major point of contention for opponents of the project, including current Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. After the Department of Transportation announced it was pulling more federal funding for California High-Speed Rail, Duffy criticized the delayed process.

“In twenty years, California has not been able to lay a single track of high-speed rail,” Duffy said earlier this week. “Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg didn’t care about these failures and dumped hundreds of millions of dollars into the state’s wish list of related fantasy projects.”

Industry experts and supporters of the California High-Speed Rail have pushed back on the notion, arguing that track-laying realistically happens late in the overall construction process, and is an easier endeavor than building bridges and underpasses, or navigating the clerical and legal challenges that have plagued the project.

The Authority has attempted to highlight what parts of the system have actually been completed already, including the construction of 57 structures in the Central Valley, with 29 additional structures currently being built. Currently, 171 miles are under design and construction between Merced and Bakersfield, and nearly 70 miles of guideway is complete.

All but 31 miles of the system has received environmental clearance between San Francisco and the greater Los Angeles area, and CAHSR says the project has generated billions in economic activity in the Central Valley.

“Since construction began, the project has created over 15,800 good-paying jobs—most filled by Central Valley residents. Up to 1,700 workers report to high-speed rail construction sites each day,” a news release states.

While the Trump Administration has put the project in its crosshairs, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has taken up advocacy for it, proposing $1 billion annually from the state’s cap-and-trade program to provide the project with consistent, reliable funding.

Currently, the project’s funding sources are spread out and sporadic. Choudri says a consistent source of funds would allow the Authority to seek financing for the project, further accelerate construction and find new revenue streams.