{"id":30855,"date":"2025-06-11T05:35:05","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T12:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/can-california-high-speed-rail-survive-without-federal-funds\/"},"modified":"2025-06-11T05:35:05","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T12:35:05","slug":"can-california-high-speed-rail-survive-without-federal-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/can-california-high-speed-rail-survive-without-federal-funds\/","title":{"rendered":"Can California high-speed rail survive without federal funds?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech\">\n    <button class=\"text-to-speech__button button\"><\/p>\n<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"text-to-speech__button__icon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/static\/images\/audio_icon.svg?482016190122\" alt=\"-\"><\/p>\n<p>        Listen to the article<br \/>\n        <span class=\"text-to-speech__button__audio-length\">5 min<\/span><br \/>\n    <\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls\">\n        <audio controls=\"\" class=\"js-text-to-speech\" preload=\"none\"><source src=\"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/dmgi9movl\/video\/upload\/q_1\/v1749218024\/news\/text_to_speech\/california-high-speed-rail-survive-without-federal-funds_js45km.wav\" type=\"audio\/mp3\"><\/source><\/audio><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls__text\">\n            This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\">feedback<\/a>.\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>California\u2019s high-speed rail project faces an uncertain future. With the U.S. Department of Transportation threatening to <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smartcitiesdive.com\/news\/track-high-speed-rail-projects-latest-developments\/709753\/#us-dot-terminate-4b-grants-california-high-speed-rail-project\" target=\"_blank\">cancel $4 billion in previously approved grants<\/a>, hopes hang on the state legislature and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smartcitiesdive.com\/news\/california-high-speed-rail-seeks-private-sector-investors\/748763\/\" target=\"_blank\">potential private investment<\/a> to, at minimum, complete the segment under construction in the state\u2019s Central Valley.<\/p>\n<p>A June 4 letter from the Federal Railroad Administration to the California High-Speed Rail Authority gave the authority 37 days to respond to criticisms of project mismanagement outlined in a 300-page <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.transportation.gov\/briefing-room\/trumps-transportation-secretary-sean-p-duffy-releases-report-exposing-no-viable-path\" target=\"_blank\">FRA Compliance Review Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The letter cited a February report from the California Office of the Inspector General that found a <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smartcitiesdive.com\/news\/california-high-speed-rail-project-oig-trump-shortfall-delay\/739548\/\" target=\"_blank\">$6.5 billion shortfall in funding<\/a> to complete the initial 171-mile segment between Bakersfield and Merced, California. The OIG report also said it is \u201cincreasingly unlikely\u201d the authority will be able to finish that segment by its target date of 2033.<\/p>\n<p>The <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.transportation.gov\/sites\/dot.gov\/files\/2025-06\/FRA%20Letter%20%20Enclosure%20to%20Mr.%20Ian%20Choudri%206.4.25.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">FRA said in the letter<\/a> it is \u201cconvinced CHSRA has no credible plan to address this funding gap.\u201d It cited a \u201cpattern of broken promises\u201d dating back to the project\u2019s early days. Originally conceived as an 800-mile network connecting San Francisco and Southern California by 2030, the authority now estimates service beginning along the 171-mile Merced-Bakersville, California,\u00a0line between 2030 and 2033 at a cost of up to $35 billion.<\/p>\n<p>The FRA further said it \u201chas no confidence the authority will ever deliver an operating high-speed rail system,\u201d and concluded that the authority\u2019s inability to complete the Central Valley segment within the agreed budget and schedule constitutes a default under its agreement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Authority strongly disagrees with the FRA\u2019s conclusions, which are misguided and do not reflect the substantial progress made to deliver high-speed rail in California,\u201d an authority spokesperson said in an email. \u201cWe remain firmly committed to completing the nation\u2019s first true high-speed rail system connecting the major population centers in the state.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The spokesperson noted that most of the authority\u2019s funding to date has come from the state. That includes $4.2 billion from 2008\u2019s voter-approved bond measure and from California\u2019s emissions cap-and-trade program. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, proposed dedicating $1 billion annually to the high-speed rail project from the state\u2019s cap-and-trade program in his revised fiscal year 2026 budget proposal.<\/p>\n<p>Baruch Feigenbaum, senior managing director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank, doesn\u2019t see much hope the state can pony up the money the authority will need. \u201cI don&#8217;t think there is support from the state government to pick up the rest,\u201d he said. \u201cI don&#8217;t believe, given what the political situation is in Sacramento right now, there is another path forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Feigenbaum is no more optimistic about hopes for private investment. \u201cBecause of its cost, there&#8217;s just no way that the private sector could make money on it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt&#8217;s just not feasible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rick Harnish, executive director of the advocacy group High Speed Rail Alliance, believes there is a way forward but said it requires the state legislature \u201cto get serious.\u201d He urged California lawmakers to fight to keep federal funding in place and to ramp up construction beyond the Central Valley. \u201cStop futzing around and figure out how to make it happen,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to an April poll commissioned by Politico and UC Berkeley\u2019s Jack Citrin Center for Public Opinion Research, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.truedot.ai\/politico_04_2025_citrincenter\" target=\"_blank\">67% of registered California voters<\/a> support continuing the high-speed rail project.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCalifornia voters are tired of traffic jams and airport delays,\u201d Andy Kunz, president and CEO of advocacy group the U.S. High Speed Rail Association, said in an email statement. \u201cSupport for the California High-Speed Rail project is growing as the state\u2019s transportation system continues to grind to a halt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Feigenbaum said he hopes the high-speed rail authority \u201cwould see the writing on the wall and wind it down,\u201d that\u2019s not where the authority appears to be headed. \u201cThe Authority will fully address and correct the record in our formal response to the FRA\u2019s notice,\u201d its spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/california-high-speed-rail-survive-without-federal-funds\/750030\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">This article was originally posted at Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Listen to the article 5 min This audio is auto-generated. 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California\u2019s &#8230; <a title=\"Can California high-speed rail survive without federal funds?\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/can-california-high-speed-rail-survive-without-federal-funds\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Can California high-speed rail survive without federal funds?\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[457],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-dive","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30855\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}