FRESNO, CA, TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2019 - Construction continues on the San Joaquin River Viaduct section of the California High Speed Rail Project. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Washington D.C. – The future of California’s high-speed rail project—the long-embattled effort to connect the state’s population centers by bullet train—is once again in jeopardy, following a forceful rebuke from the U.S. Department of Transportation. On Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) had violated multiple terms of its federal grant agreements, casting fresh doubt on the already-delayed and over-budget infrastructure project.
In a sharply worded statement, Duffy claimed the CHSRA “has no viable path to complete this project on time or on budget,” and warned that the roughly $4 billion in federal grants could be redirected if California fails to meet its obligations. “CHSRA is on notice—if they can’t deliver on their end of the deal, it could soon be time for these funds to flow to other projects that can achieve President Trump’s vision of building great, big, beautiful things again,” Duffy said.
The criticism centers on a newly released Compliance Review Report from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), which outlines nine alleged breaches of grant agreements. The report cites missed deadlines, significant funding shortfalls, and a lack of credible planning or scheduling as grounds for concern. FRA Acting Administrator Drew Feeley wrote that “CHSRA is not using state or federal funding to advance responsibly the CHSR Project,” blaming the situation in part on “poor planning.”
The CHSRA pushed back strongly, insisting it disagrees with the federal review. A spokesperson for the agency said it plans to issue a formal response and defend its performance, emphasizing that most of the funding for the project comes from the state. “We remain firmly committed to completing the nation’s first true high-speed rail system connecting the major population centers in the state,” the spokesperson said.
The high-speed rail project, once hailed as a transformative step toward green transportation in California, has been plagued by delays, political setbacks, and spiraling costs since its inception. The FRA initially committed $2.55 billion to the plan in 2009, with the vision of linking Los Angeles to San Francisco in under three hours across 800 miles of track.
But by 2019, under Governor Gavin Newsom, the scope of the project was dramatically reduced. The state committed to completing only a 170-mile segment between Merced and Bakersfield in the Central Valley—a stretch now projected to cost $22 billion and be completed by 2033. A February report from the CHSRA’s own inspector general cast doubt on even that timeline, citing unresolved funding gaps and persistent construction delays.
The FRA has given the authority seven days to respond and 30 additional days to contest the findings or risk losing its federal support altogether.
