A new report from the Office of the Inspector General found that California’s High-Speed Rail project is once again behind schedule.
The report, which was released on Monday, stated that the Merced to Bakersfield segment is unlikely to be completed within the planned schedule.
The backstory: California voters approved High-Speed Rail in 2008 at an estimated cost of $33 billion to stretch the line from San Francisco to Los Angeles, with a target completion date of 2020.
- But the project has spent $13.7 billion over the past 17 years and will potentially need around $133 billion to complete the project.
- The California High-Speed Rail Authority’s latest goal was to have the Merced to Bakersfield segment complete by 2030 with a three-year grace period.
The big picture: According to the Inspector General, the 2030 target date is no longer achievable. Instead, the goal has been pushed back to 2031, with the 2033 schedule also unlikely to be met.
- “With a smaller remaining schedule envelope and the potential for significant uncertainty and risk during subsequent phases of the project, staying within the 2033 schedule envelope is unlikely,” Inspector General Benjamin Belnap wrote in a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature. “In fact, uncertainty about some parts of the project has increased as the Authority has recently made decisions that deviated from the procurement and funding strategies that were part of its plans for staying on schedule.”
- Belnap said construction delays related to continued disagreements with third parties pose an ongoing risk of delay to complete the initial 119-mile stretch.
- Belnap wants the Authority to complete a risk analysis to better determine if the plan to complete the Merced to Bakersfield line is realistic and achievable.
The other side: The High-Speed Rail Authority penned a letter in response to the Inspector General’s report, arguing it is premature to determine that the full 2030 to 2033 schedule window will not be met.
- “The Authority is actively working to evaluate and implement opportunities to recover time, and will continue to do so in the coming months,” the Authority wrote.
- High-Speed Rail agreed that the delays have been driven generally by third-party requirements, design iterations and other conflicts for those systems that have been impacted by construction.
- “In this area tha Authority only has the ability to coordinate the necessary work, and lacks sufficient control to advance the work as expeditiously as needed to stay on schedule – and while the Authority does everything it can to manage the coordination, the lack of authority to control the design and construction management approval process creates a challenging situation for the Authority,” the letter reads.
- The Authority said it is working with the Newsom administration and hopes the Legislature will pass bills to provide greater control for High-Speed Rail to have an improved system in place for design and construction agreements with third parties.
Elected officials respond: Asm. Alexandra Macedo (R–Tulare) said the report shows that it is time for California to shift its priorities away from High-Speed Rail.
- “The Inspector General only confirms the wasteful spending and broken promises by the High Speed Rail Authority,” Macedo said. “Residents of the Central Valley have made their voices heard. We want and need water infrastructure more than the High Speed Rail.
- Macedo pointed to Assembly Bill 267, which she recently introduced, as an opportunity to redirect $2 billion in funding for High-Speed Rail for wildfire prevention projects and water infrastructure.
- Asm. David Tangipa (R–Clovis) also pushed for Assembly Bill 377, which would require the High-Speed Rail Authority to create a business plan that includes a clear financial strategy.
- “The Inspector General’s report confirms what many of us have feared: even the High-Speed Rail Authority has lost hope in securing federal funding for the Merced to Bakersfield portion due to its ever growing funding gap,” Tangipa said. “We cannot continue to spend billions of dollars without a financial plan that ensure Fresno and the Central Valley won’t be left with a modern day Stonehenge – an unfinished monument to government mismanagement.”
Trump weighs in: President Donald Trump took aim at High-Speed Rail on Tuesday, calling it one of the worst managed projects he’s ever seen and promising an investigation.
- “It is the worst thing, and we’re going to start an investigation into that because it’s not possible,” Trump said. “I built for a living, and I built on time, on budget. It’s impossible that something could cost that much.”
PRESIDENT TRUMP: "The train that's being built between Los Angeles and San Francisco is the worst managed project that I think I've ever seen… Hundreds of billions of dollars over budget… We're going to start an investigation of that." pic.twitter.com/CPEgTdv16w— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 4, 2025