Gavin Newsom’s transport secretary has admitted criticism of California’s high-speed rail is justified — as estimates of the project show it will be a struggle to be completed.
Officials now say it will cost an eye-watering $126 billion to finish the line from Los Angeles to San Francisco — which is more money than Amtrak has ever received from the federal government since it was established in 1971, a damning 60 Minutes report revealed.
That’s and a huge uptick when compared to the $33 billion voters were told the rail would cost when it was announced way back in 2008.
Nearly two decades later, the idea of a sleek, sub-three-hour ride has instead morphed into a delayed, downsized, and wildly expensive project that’s earliest projected opening is 2033.
There are still no tracks laid, and the only segment that’s seen much progress runs between Bakersfield and Merced.
In nearby Fresno, the only place where the project is visible, locals mock the project as “Stonehenge”.
“We’re now in 2026. There are no trains. There’s no track laid. It was a complete bait and switch,” Rep. Vince Fong told 60 Minutes.
“The California High-Speed Rail nightmare is the probably quintessential example of government waste and mismanagement.”
California Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin admitted ”mistakes have been made” and some of the criticism was ”very fair.”
“I don’t think the voters fully understood and neither did we… what it was gonna take to actually get this project delivered,” he said.
By 2019, even Gov. Gavin Newsom threw cold water on the original vision, saying, “Right now, there simply isn’t a path… from San Francisco to LA.”
His administration scaled the project back to the Central Valley — a stretch few demanded and fewer are expected to ride.
Meanwhile, the price tag for the full system has exploded to roughly $126 billion, leaving a staggering funding gap of about $90 billion. Officials insist they’ll find the money. “The entire amount… not there today. But do we believe we can get those funds to get the– the project done?? Absolutely,” Omishakin said.
Federal funding has also been yanked, with critics blasting the project as one that has “wasted billions in taxpayer dollars yet delivered nothing.”
For now, California’s high-speed rail remains stuck between ambition and reality — a half-built symbol of big dreams and the nagging question: can the state actually pull it off?
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