U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced he had directed the Federal Railroad Administration to initiate a review of the California High-Speed Rail Authority.
Duffy said the review would help determine the appropriateness of committing roughly $4 billion in funding to the project that would build a high-speed railroad between Merced and Bakersfield. The complete project that would connect San Francisco to Los Angeles, was initially slated to be completed by 2020 at a cost of $33 billion. The latest estimate is that the entire project would cost more than $106 billion and the Merced-to-Bakersfield project would cost more than the initial estimate for the entire project.
“For too long, taxpayers have subsidized the massively over-budget and delayed California High-Speed Rail project,” Duffy said. “That is why I am directing my staff to review and determine whether the CHSRA has followed through on the commitments it made to receive billions of dollars in federal funding. If not, I will have to consider whether that money could be given to deserving infrastructure projects elsewhere in the United States.”
Duffy’s office said the California High-Speed Rail Office of the Inspector General has said the Merced-to-Bakersfield segment lacks about $6.4 billion in funding despite an injection of $4 billion from the federal government. The CHSRA Inspector General also found that the project is unlikely to be completed by 2033, and would have only 2 million in annual ridership because it fails to connect California’s larger cities.
The FRA will investigate delays and cost overruns on the project through a compliance and performance review, officials said. Duffy directed the FRA to review CHSRA and the progress on the Merced-to-Bakersfield Corridor, and to look at the agency’s compliance under FRA-administered grant agreements to determine if the agency has met its obligations under the award terms.