California’s High-Speed Failure

Since it was approved by Golden State voters in the 2008 Proposition 1A bond measure, the California High-Speed Rail (CHSR) project, which was intended to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles by passenger rail, has shoveled more than $111 billion into the furnace of government waste.  The California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) was tasked with overseeing the project but has made little progress on the line since funding began.  To help save taxpayers from this endless morass, the Department of Transportation (DOT) has moved to cut $4 billion in federal funding from the project.

In an April 17, 2025 blog post, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) noted that when the initial $9.95 million bond was approved, the project was estimated to be completed at a cost of $40 million in 2020.  The cost has increased by 162.5 percent to $105 billion.  But that estimate is likely woefully optimistic, as the Central Valley route alone, which runs from Merced to Bakersfield, could have a shortfall of up to $100 billion.  While that line is projected to be completed between 2030 and 2033, there is no timeline for completion of the original vision of a train from Los Angeles to San Francisco.

On June 4, 2025, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) sent a 315-page letter to the CHSRA CEO Ian Choudri.  The letter listed nine violations of federal grant terms, including overstated ridership projections, a $7 billion funding shortfall, and costly change orders and said that if there is no response from the CHSRA, its $4 billion federal grant will be terminated.  Choudri’s June 12, 2025, response stated that the “FRA’s conclusions are based on an inaccurate, often outright-misleading, presentation of the evidence.”  He cited progress on viaducts, overpasses, and underpasses in the Central Valley as proof that the project is “on track.”  Although construction is already underway, the ballooning costs and bureaucratic delays remain.

In their response to the FRA letter, Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) released a joint statement proclaiming their support for the project and asserting that the Trump administration’s move was intended to “punish Californians who didn’t vote for him.”  For these comments, CAGW jointly named the two senators its June 2025 Porker of the Month.

California’s debacle is the worst but not unique among high-speed rail failures in the United States.  In 2013, the Texas Central Railway was created to connect Dallas to Arlington and Fort Worth.  The project suffered numerous delays and estimated costs grew from $10 billion to $41.6 billion by 2023.  The project’s funding was terminated by the DOT in April 2025.

The CHSRA has proven unable to fulfill the promise of high-speed rail between San Francisco and Los Angeles, wasting billions of taxpayer dollars in the process.  California should learn from Texas’s failure and pull the brakes on its project.

–Elias Aguilar