Transcription
How did California spend $15 billion over 16 years building a train to nowhere? Oh, wait. There is no train. They haven't laid a single track. I'm standing where it should exist.
It's not crazy to think connecting cities in a state like California would be useful. So, in 1996, the legislature created the California High-Speed Rail Authority to develop inner-city rail using the state's pre-existing network. It could reduce traffic on I-5, the 405, the 101.
But then, California does what they do best. In 2008, Proposition 1A promised an 800-mile high-speed rail connecting San Francisco to San Diego. It would take 12 years, involve two phases, and the line from LA to San Francisco would cost only $33 billion. I can't believe they bought that. Consulting firms and unions contributed over $2.5 million to the campaign. Only two high-speed lines in the world operate at a profit, but Prop 1A promised no subsidies. They predicted 100 million riders by 2030, so voters passed it barely.
The following year, the project got $3.5 billion from the Obama administration, and that should have helped. But again, California. Prop 1A allowed about $10 billion in funding and directed officials to seek private and other public funds to cover the rest. But the rail authority had no idea how to secure the bag. Meanwhile, consultants cashed in. One report found the average engineering consultant on the project earned $427,000 a year, while the state's own engineers earned $131 grand.
By 2014, it ballooned into a $68 billion project, riddled by lawsuits, planning, and construction errors, and waste. Engineering changes through the Diablo Range cost between $5 and $14 billion. One contractor had to stop construction due to signs of distress, and start all over again. And the cost to purchase the property for the train jumped from $332 million to $1.5 billion.
So, in 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom announced the project as planned wasn't going to happen. Surprise, surprise. Instead, they would focus on the 171 miles between Bakersfield and Merced, two places not on anyone's bucket list. Because without it, California would be forced to return $3.5 billion in federal funding.
The feds took one look at that plan and wanted their money back. They settled a two-year legal battle in 2021, and the Biden administration restored the grant under the condition California must deliver one high-speed rail route by the end of 2033. Oh, and they also gave them another $3 billion in funding, which was needed because by now the train was set to cost $113 billion.
So, in June of 2025, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a 300-page compliance review showing the rail authority has at least a $7 billion funding gap, no viable path to completion by 2033, and they grossly inflated ridership numbers. Things were so bad, the Feds even launched an investigation into the now $135 billion project.
After 16 years and $15 billion, not a single track has been laid. So the feds were like, "Yoink." And they revoked that $4 billion in funding. But because Gavin Newsom is peak d-u-l-u, he called it another political stunt to punish California before filing another lawsuit against the Trump administration. So, who's to blame for this runaway train?