California’s ambitious high-speed rail project continues to face mounting challenges as costs spiral and deadlines slip further into the future. The initiative, which was initially projected to cost $40 billion, has now ballooned to an estimated $128 billion, prompting President Donald Trump to withdraw $4 billion in federal funding support.
Recent state audits have revealed that significant portions of the project’s budget have been allocated to expenses seemingly unrelated to actual rail construction. These expenditures include $5 million to the City of Fresno for graffiti removal, nearly $2 million to Kadesh & Associates for lobbying and congressional advisory services, and approximately $51,000 to CPS HR Consulting for managing the rail authority’s diversity, equity, and inclusion task force meetings and employee training.
The project has also directed $537 million toward environmental services, with the environmental impact statement alone taking 14 years to complete. Westervelt Ecological Services received $20 million for constructing new animal habitats to replace those potentially affected by the rail line’s construction. Additionally, $177,000 was spent on Politico Pro subscriptions, reflecting a broader pattern of government spending on media subscriptions, with federal authorities having spent $44 million on Politico subscriptions between 2017 and 2024.
The rail line, which was originally scheduled to begin construction in 2015 and complete by 2020, has yet to lay any track. While the first section is now targeted for completion by 2033, an inspector general report suggests even this extended timeline may be unrealistic.
In response to criticism and numerous audits, California Governor Gavin Newsom expressed frustration, stating at a press conference, “I think we’ve been audited a hundred times there. At a certain point, you have audit fatigue. Audits for audits’ sake service no one… what people want is problems solved.”
The high-speed rail project’s struggles mirror other transportation initiatives in California. The Santa Clara County’s planned rail station project has encountered similar difficulties, running 11 years behind schedule and exceeding its budget by $8 billion. The county purchased rail cars for $173 million that will now be utilized at other stations for ten years while waiting for the project’s completion. Despite these setbacks, the federal government awarded this project a $5 billion grant last year, marking it as the second-largest federal transportation grant in history.
The mounting delays and cost overruns have drawn sharp criticism, with President Trump describing the high-speed rail project as having “the worst overruns that there have ever been in the history of our country.” The situation has left California taxpayers bearing the burden of escalating costs while seeing little tangible progress on what was once heralded as a transformative transportation initiative.
These developments highlight the complex challenges facing major infrastructure projects in California, where environmental
regulations, administrative costs, and project management issues have contributed to significant delays and budget increases. The continued absence of actual rail construction, combined with substantial spending on peripheral services and consultancy, has raised questions about the project’s viability and management efficiency.