Cal High-Speed Rail Costs Jumped From $33 to $128 Billion
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2008 championed California’s High Speed Rail project to provide service between San Francisco to Los Angeles at a cost of $33 billion. But with estimated cost of about $128 billion and initial service not expected to begin until at least 2030, the new Trump Administration has launched an investigation that could kill the project.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger championed Proposition 1A in 2008 to provide bullet train service that would whisk commuters non-stop 494 miles in 2-hour-40-minutes to connect Los Angeles, and San Francisco via the Central Valley But the ballot initiative barely passed by 53% of voters,
The project followed an earlier attempt by Gov. Jerry Brown that included signing a bill authorizing $1.25 billion in bonds for a similar route. But that plan collapsed due to the lack of economic viability, environmental objections, and Caltrans resistance to private management of the project.
Obama Administration kicked off the project in 2015 with an initial grant of $2.25 billion. The U.S. Transportation Department called the project a fabulous economic development initiative and promised in collaboration with labor groups that 20,000 new construction jobs would be created.
Shortly thereafter at a highly ballyhooedgroundbreaking ceremony outside of Fresno for the first 119-mile segment, estimates for the total economic impact of the project soared to 31,500 jobs. California High Speed Rail Authority (“CHSRA”) further assured the press that the system would be extended to 776 miles in a Phase 2 to tie-in Sacramento and San Diego.
The Mineta Transportation Institute projected in 2018that California High Speed Rail job creation would peak at 66,000, but then admitted project cost estimates for Phase 1 had vaulted to $68.4 billion.
Newly elected Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019 admitted that inflating project costs had forced Phase 1 to be scaled back to 171 mile straight-shot between Merced to Bakersfield, with a cost of $32–35 billion and initial service delayed to 2030–2033.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on February 2025 publicly criticized the California High-Speed Rail Authority as a “boondoggle,” highlighting its significant cost overruns and delays.
Duffy pointed out that no actual track has been laid,and only 22 miles of foundational structure on which tracks will eventually be laid have been graded in the Central Valley.
Secretary Duffy revealed that CHSRA had spent approximately $15.7 billion on the project, with about $4 billion coming from the federal government. Duffy just announced he has directed the Federal Railroad Administration to review the appropriateness of spending and to assess whether the federal government should terminate all future funding.
