CA High-Speed Rail Cost Explodes to $231 Billion, From Original $33 Billion

[Independent thinker]

CA High-Speed Rail Cost Explodes to $231 Billion, From Original $33 Billion​

‘Our country has never seen a fiscal disaster of this magnitude’​

CA High-Speed Rail Cost Explodes to $231 Billion, From Original $33 Billion – California Globe

californiaglobe.com

28 Apr 20206 ~~ By Katy Grimes

California’s High-Speed Rail boondoggle is now estimated to cost taxpayers $231 billion, up from its original $33.5 billion price tag in 2008 when voters passed Proposition 1A.
“Our country has never seen a fiscal disaster of this magnitude,” California Rep. Kevin Kiley said on X Monday.
Voters were deceived by the original ballot summary and language in Proposition 1A from 2008, but the state’s lawmakers seem to find that fact inconvenient.
And, the entire project is lacking in private, public and debt funding to complete even the most minor operating segment – nearly 20 years later.
“If it is built, California’s High-Speed Rail would be the largest public works project in state history. That fact alone appears to be intoxicating to state officials, in a perpetual quest to have California be the first state to do anything,” I reported in 2011. That’s how long California’s High Speed Rail has served only as a jobs program and a really bad joke on California voters and taxpayers.
~Snip~
n 2019, thousands of pages of public records were removed from the California High Speed Rail Authority website. Members of the media and anyone seeking information about rail authority spending are only able to access previously posted documents like detailed information on every project change order, board meeting materials and historical business plans, through a time consuming and unreliable California Public Records Act request according to the Rail Authority website.

The California State Auditor uncovered rail employees, contractors and consultants with wild conflicts of interest. Then-auditor Elaine Howle allowed the title of the audit to speak for itself: “California High‑Speed Rail Authority: Its Flawed Decision Making and Poor Contract Management Have Contributed to Billions in Cost Overruns and Delays in the System’s Construction.”
~Snip~

View attachment 1249538​

Commentary:
“A Billion here, and a Billion there, pretty soon you’ll be talking about real money!”
like the growth of parasites, and bacteria, the growth of government theft is exponential, until it kills the host.
Whether it's Jerry Brown or any other Democrat California Governor including Gavin Newsom, the fix was into fraudulently use of the Hi-Speed rail project as a cash cow for the Democrat party.
California's high-speed rail project has faced criticism for mismanagement and cost overruns, with estimates now exceeding $231 billion, which make it the most wasteful project in history, surpassing the 'Boston Big Dig' in terms of controversy and financial issues.
Comparatively, the Boston Big Dig also faced significant financial issues, but the California project is often cited as one of the most egregious examples of infrastructure mismanagement and fraud in U.S. history.

Read more:

California’s High-Speed Rail Project Is A Disgraceful Boondoggle

California taxpayers will continue to be railroaded by the state's ill-conceived bullet train boondoggle.

www.forbes.com

xxxxxxxxxx​

https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/trumps-transportation-secretary-sean-p-duffy-releases-report-exposing-no-viable-path

Didn't realize they were still trying to build the thing. Anyway, their solution is simple. Raise everyone's taxes a lot and they'll be able to afford it. That is, if there is anyone left in town to ride the thing.

 

[Robert W]

CA High-Speed Rail Cost Explodes to $231 Billion, From Original $33 Billion​

‘Our country has never seen a fiscal disaster of this magnitude’​

CA High-Speed Rail Cost Explodes to $231 Billion, From Original $33 Billion – California Globe

californiaglobe.com

28 Apr 20206 ~~ By Katy Grimes

California’s High-Speed Rail boondoggle is now estimated to cost taxpayers $231 billion, up from its original $33.5 billion price tag in 2008 when voters passed Proposition 1A.
“Our country has never seen a fiscal disaster of this magnitude,” California Rep. Kevin Kiley said on X Monday.
Voters were deceived by the original ballot summary and language in Proposition 1A from 2008, but the state’s lawmakers seem to find that fact inconvenient.
And, the entire project is lacking in private, public and debt funding to complete even the most minor operating segment – nearly 20 years later.
“If it is built, California’s High-Speed Rail would be the largest public works project in state history. That fact alone appears to be intoxicating to state officials, in a perpetual quest to have California be the first state to do anything,” I reported in 2011. That’s how long California’s High Speed Rail has served only as a jobs program and a really bad joke on California voters and taxpayers.
~Snip~
n 2019, thousands of pages of public records were removed from the California High Speed Rail Authority website. Members of the media and anyone seeking information about rail authority spending are only able to access previously posted documents like detailed information on every project change order, board meeting materials and historical business plans, through a time consuming and unreliable California Public Records Act request according to the Rail Authority website.

The California State Auditor uncovered rail employees, contractors and consultants with wild conflicts of interest. Then-auditor Elaine Howle allowed the title of the audit to speak for itself: “California High‑Speed Rail Authority: Its Flawed Decision Making and Poor Contract Management Have Contributed to Billions in Cost Overruns and Delays in the System’s Construction.”
~Snip~

View attachment 1249538​

Commentary:
“A Billion here, and a Billion there, pretty soon you’ll be talking about real money!”
like the growth of parasites, and bacteria, the growth of government theft is exponential, until it kills the host.
Whether it's Jerry Brown or any other Democrat California Governor including Gavin Newsom, the fix was into fraudulently use of the Hi-Speed rail project as a cash cow for the Democrat party.
California's high-speed rail project has faced criticism for mismanagement and cost overruns, with estimates now exceeding $231 billion, which make it the most wasteful project in history, surpassing the 'Boston Big Dig' in terms of controversy and financial issues.
Comparatively, the Boston Big Dig also faced significant financial issues, but the California project is often cited as one of the most egregious examples of infrastructure mismanagement and fraud in U.S. history.

Read more:

California’s High-Speed Rail Project Is A Disgraceful Boondoggle

California taxpayers will continue to be railroaded by the state's ill-conceived bullet train boondoggle.

www.forbes.com

xxxxxxxxxx​

https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/trumps-transportation-secretary-sean-p-duffy-releases-report-exposing-no-viable-path

 

[Robert W]

Could I ask where is the $230bn coming from, I am getting $135bn online...
This hasn't been spent, this cost estimates...

Again this cheaper per mile than a Highway in Houston...
This is a 776 mile high speed rail system through some of the most populated ares in the US.
Which puts it at 174 million a mile...
Just compare, UK is costing £300m per mile for there high speed rail.
China can build cheap because they don't care about human right, employ rights and health safety is in the toilet...
I have no expectations that this is going to be cheap... the question is the Benefit going outweighs the cost.
First, to help pay for all this, set up stations in the middle of nowhere and buy all the land around it... How do you the TransAmerican railing was paid for back in the day.
Living on the line could mean you commute to either LA, San Fran or Sacramento... LAX I persume would be a stop on the way too.. Amazing what buy thousands of acres can eventually pay for..

Do the numbers properly, serious money not spent yet... But high speed rail is a game changer. Look at France, very few internal flights... Paris to Marseilles 480miles in 3h 08m... Trains very easy to work on not like a plane. No way is faster, take in the time to go from City Center to City Center...

This is about investment... Yep, this one is expensive.. Look at how much UK is willing to spend..

So you approve this project that has cost over runs of 200 billion dollars, and in 20 years, no rail is installed, because of what France did?

 

[Billiejeens]

The world is into

High-Speed Rail​

We need it

Well so far you have zero of it.
Congrats.

 

[Robert W]

Didn't realize they were still trying to build the thing. Anyway, their solution is simple. Raise everyone's taxes a lot and they'll be able to afford it. That is, if there is anyone left in town to ride the thing.

California could have used the funds for airplanes and improvements to airports and got passengers discounted rates to fly, had Democrats been smart. How many passengers can be on one train, and why should passengers abandon airplanes or their own cars?

 

[Billiejeens]

Time to find out which Democrats got rich off the fraud and how much was kicked back to Dem politicians.

All of them
Followed by
All of it.

 

[Robert W]

The world is into

High-Speed Rail​

We need it

Compared to airplanes, it is very slow. The funds would have been better used to pay a part of air fare than to waste 20 years with no rail at all installed yet.

 

[Papageorgio]

The world is into

High-Speed Rail​

We need it

16 years, 15-20 billion already spent, no one piece of track laid. Estimated finish date 2033? Estimated cost $231 billion.

Private company Los Angeles high speed rail, started 2024, went from $12 original cast now $21.5 billion under construction done by 2029 with $3 billion in federal grants, the rest private and federal loans, completed in 2029.

Too bad Californians are paying so much when private companies are much less expensive and tons more efficient amd timely.

 

[Robert W]

16 years, 15-20 billion already spent, no one piece of track laid. Estimated finish date 2033? Estimated cost $231 billion.

Private company Los Angeles high speed rail, started 2024, went from $12 original cast now $21.5 billion under construction done by 2029 with $3 billion in federal grants, the rest private and federal loans, completed in 2029.

Too bad Californians are paying so much when private companies are much less expensive and tons more efficient amd timely.

I did that kind of construction when building BART in the SF Bay area and I worked for a Corporation and of course private parties could buy stock. We workers also are private workers.

 

[Dante]

<~~~~~~~~~~>

California’s high-speed rail now ‘worst project in history’ — as insiders reveal unbelievable new cost​

High-Speed Rail project ripped after costs soar to $231B

State auditors criticized California’s high-speed rail project from San Francisco to Los Angeles, saying the costly project backed by Governor Gavin Newsom lacks a plan to finish.

nypost.com

28 Apr 2026 ~~ By Josh Koehn

Calls are growing for California’s high-speed rail to be abandoned completely after revelations the estimated cost of completing Gavin Newsom’s fantasy train project has ballooned to a staggering $231 billion.
The latest cost revisions for the project — revealed during a Senate Transportation Committee meeting — left lawmakers fuming after the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office flagged numerous concerns.
State Sen. Tony Strickland, vice chair of the STC, said the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s plan continues to obscure true costs — and now he’s calling for the entire project to be scrapped.
This is despite the project having already burned through a cool $14 billion in taxpayer’s cash, mostly on land acquisition and construction in the Central Valley.
“I’ve been saying this for years now, but this is the most wasteful government project in probably world history,” Strickland told The Post. “It goes from a $33 billion projected estimate to the voters to go from LA to San Francisco. Now it’s $231 billion and climbing.”
Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Roseville) called the California high-speed rail project “the worst public infrastructure failure in U.S. history.”
“Thankfully, we have now cut off all further federal funding,” Kiley told The Post. “There is no viable path forward for this disastrous project. I fully expect the next California governor will have to recognize that reality, stop throwing good money after bad, and finally wind the project down.”
~Snip~
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who himself admitted in 2019 there was no path to get the train from San Francisco to Los Angeles, pushed the state to instead focus on a 171-mile segment between Merced and Bakersfield.
About 119 miles are under active construction with completion now targeted for 2032.
In Fresno, locals call the project’s discarded materials to lay track “Stonehenge.”


Commentary:
Amongst other things, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which has been used in numerous lawsuits against the project. These regulations require thorough environmental reviews, which have contributed to the project's delays and extended timeline and increased costs.
Its also become apparent that Democrats use these programs to siphon off and launder money to their campaigns. How else can you explain how they keep getting elected despite their historic incompetence duplicity and hypocrisy.
The money for the project went somewhere. How many people were paid for “Environmental Studies”?
Fraud running rampant? Also, Caltrans and their contractor Granite Construction, for our freeway systems and bridge repairs.
Is this bad enough for Democrat majority legislature in Sacramento to impeach the governor?

NY POST is not known to be credible on stories like this

 

[Dante]

Since I hav personally been involved in 4 takings, I doubt there is little you could teach me.

Yet you clearly stated a falsehood on the subject

bye

 

[Dante]

Has anyone here got any proof of corruption?

Actually has anyone here got any proof that any politician was even at major fault for this overrun?

This the cost of a country that has little experience in high rail infrastructure getting involved in a major project... This is a major learning curve, they probably shouldn't have taken on such a big project as their first try...

Can I also point out :
Still cheaper per mile than the TxDOT highway expansion in Houston.
But we see no Democrats here screaming about corruption...
Truth is this is large projects...It estimated first off way too low...

Here is the reasons we got:


A bunch of reasons, but that been suggested:

- Buy America rules restrict the materials that can be used in federally-funded transportation projects, which drives up costs

- the U.S. has a super byzantine environmental permitting process, then on top of that, California has its own statewide permitting process that's even more difficult to navigate, and the two aren't interchangeable so the project had to clear both

- California did not adequately staff the project. They grossly underestimated the number of people it would take to manage this.

- some of the project's alignment runs near freight railroads. Freight railroads are assholes. They will refuse to shut down their lines for even a few hours to allow construction work to happen. They are notoriously awful to work with, and that was the case here; they delayed the project as much as possible.

- there were a lot of lawsuits to try and block the project, some of which stem from the previously mentioned environmental permitting processes

- Property acquisition for transit projects is a pain in the ass; rail and transit operate under different rules from highways that delay them from purchasing property until permitting is done, while highway projects can buy up property while still in permitting. This isn't a legal barrier or anything; departmental staff just won't make the change.

- Government contracts heavily incentivize unrealistic low bids, and it's standard practice to build in contingency for a project to be 20% over budget.

- inflation in construction materials has outpaced regular inflation by a great deal

Buy American for a country that has no experience in this type of build seems a project suicide at this stage. China wouldn't do that, they would get you in, build it, they would try and copy you the next time.

So let me show you example of Buy America Act (federal)... The Contractors on this project are

• Construction Partners: Tutor Perini / Zachry / Parsons (TPZP) serves as the primary design-build contractor for CP1 (Madera to Fresno).
• Subcontractors: Key contributors include Fisk Electric Company, Becho, Inc., and Desert Mechanical Inc..

These are all American companies... This is the high end of high speed rail, something that is alien to US.

If this was done in in the rest of the world it would be either

• CRRC Corporation (China) (by far the largest)
• Siemens (Germany),
• Alstom (France),
• Hitachi (Japan),
• Talgo (Spain)
• Hyundai (South Korea)

So take China out and you see what type the other companies are... They are technology companies primarily...

This isn't about corruption, it is about US coming very late to the table on technology being implemented and used other places in the world. US is way behind on this type of public builds unless roads... Roads will not solve California problems... They have the population density and rail like this would connect their whole state.

Would take prudent advice here... Bring in an experienced contractor e.g. Siemens... Understand the benefit to the state financially of having such an asset. This would allow people to live away from big cities like San Fran and LA and commute in daily (this is huge).

Yes this is expensive, it always will be... But he lesson learnt here will be invaluable

This is not about budget over runs, it is about benefit v cost...

thank you

the dolts here won't "get it" but other readers might

 

[Dante]

Could I ask where is the $230bn coming from, I am getting $135bn online...
This hasn't been spent, this cost estimates...

Again this cheaper per mile than a Highway in Houston...
This is a 776 mile high speed rail system through some of the most populated ares in the US.
Which puts it at 174 million a mile...
Just compare, UK is costing £300m per mile for there high speed rail.
China can build cheap because they don't care about human right, employ rights and health safety is in the toilet...
I have no expectations that this is going to be cheap... the question is the Benefit going outweighs the cost.
First, to help pay for all this, set up stations in the middle of nowhere and buy all the land around it... How do you the TransAmerican railing was paid for back in the day.
Living on the line could mean you commute to either LA, San Fran or Sacramento... LAX I persume would be a stop on the way too.. Amazing what buy thousands of acres can eventually pay for..

Do the numbers properly, serious money not spent yet... But high speed rail is a game changer. Look at France, very few internal flights... Paris to Marseilles 480miles in 3h 08m... Trains very easy to work on not like a plane. No way is faster, take in the time to go from City Center to City Center...

This is about investment... Yep, this one is expensive.. Look at how much UK is willing to spend..

again, thank you for laying some of it all out

 

[Dante]

Compared to airplanes, it is very slow. The funds would have been better used to pay a part of air fare than to waste 20 years with no rail at all installed yet.

View attachment 1249895

Compared to our regular rail -- it's fast


it would be competitive

 

[LordBrownTrout]

Why is it that libs love mass transit, love hoarding people into trains and buses, romanticize about europe and mass transit?

 

[Dante]

It appears any thread title containing "California" brings out the USMB Right Wingnut Troll Brigade

Just look at all of the energy and shit put into it all.

It's like soft porn for many of these dolts. Better than those raunchy Nudes of Melania that everybody seems tired of.


The Lack of High Speed Rail has Kept America Back

 

[LordBrownTrout]

Yet the Trump Family and co., exceeds anything -- all in less than just a few years

......ah yes. Trump trump trump trump. It didn't take long. The obsession with orange man has reached a psychotic state.

 

[Dante]

Why is it that libs love mass transit, love hoarding people into trains and buses, romanticize about europe and mass transit?

We want to get you used to that day that will eventually come -- you will be herded like cattle and comply meekly

there

now you can sleep better

 

[Dante]

......ah yes. Trump trump trump trump. It didn't take long. The obsession with orange man has reached a psychotic state.

The Grifters get mentioned in all threads relating to corruption, theft and fiscal malfeasance. That's not anybody's obsession. It's speaking TRUTH where truth is hidden

 

[LordBrownTrout]

It appears any thread title containing "California" brings out the USMB Right Wingnut Troll Brigade

Just look at all of the energy and shit put into it all.

It's like soft porn for many of these dolts. Better than those raunchy Nudes of Melania that everybody seems tired of.


The Lack of High Speed Rail has Kept America Back

We want to get you used to that day that will eventually come -- you will be herded like cattle and comply meekly

there

now you can sleep better

No, I'm not referring to y'alls favorite leader guy. He did kill 6 million jews so he would be very popular with dems now but I'm referring to the constant slobbering over mass transit from libs.