California’s groundbreaking high-speed rail project is at a critical crossroads. Former President Donald Trump notoriously declared $4 billion in federal funding dead on arrival. This decision comes in the midst of very contentious debates about the project’s viability. At the same time, the project’s costs have grown from a 2008 estimate of $33 billion to an incredible $128 billion today.
California Governor Gavin Newsom gave an answer to the funding cuts in the form of a 47-page budget proposal. To fund the new high-speed rail plan, he proposes raising $1 billion a year for the next 20 years. This funding will provide the resources required to finish the overall project’s first operating segment. This initial segment runs 171 miles from Merced to Bakersfield. California officials admit they’re still short about $7 billion. In the fine print, they acknowledge that this money is necessary to fully fund this stretch.
The high-speed rail system aims to connect major Californian cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Anaheim, with future plans to extend north to Sacramento and south to San Diego. The multi-phase project would ultimately lead to trains traveling in excess of 220 mph on a proposed 800-mile corridor.
Despite continued pressure on the project, the California High-Speed Rail Authority has stood by its advancement. They have emphasized that arguments alleging the absence of realistic alternatives to the project are off base. These statements overlook the fact that we’ve made tremendous progress in advancing high-speed rail to California. Serious civil construction is already under way along 119 miles in California’s Central Valley.
Even if they succeeded in finding the money, under Trump’s administration the California high-speed rail project was already described as a “disaster” back in 2019. That’s despite President Joe Biden’s administration restoring a $929 million Small Starts grant for the project, which former President Donald Trump had killed. Like last year, they awarded an extra $4 billion in funding.
Political commentary surrounding the project remains polarized. Sean Duffy, a former Republican congressman, criticized Newsom’s plans, stating, “Newsom and California’s high-speed rail boondoggle are the definition of government incompetence and possibly corruption.” Conversely, Governor Newsom responded to Trump’s critiques by asserting, “Won’t be taking advice from the guy who can’t keep planes in the sky.”
In 2008, voters passed by a two-thirds margin a $10 billion bond to begin construction of the high-speed rail line. They expected to have it done by 2020. Ever since, delays and rising costs reportably now exceeding $3 billion have thrown the project’s future viability into question. Yet as funding debates rage and partisan conflicts intensify, California’s high-speed rail project sees its future further clouded.