New cost estimates are in for California’s high-speed rail project, and the price tag has gone up again.
The massive rail system is designed to one day connect Los Angeles and San Francisco, with future extensions planned to San Diego and Sacramento.
In a newly proposed business plan released this year, project leaders estimate the Los Angeles-to-San Francisco segment will cost about $126 billion, with service beginning around 2040.
Politicians, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, have stated that voters originally approved $33 billion for the project when it passed in 2008.
In the meantime, the state is focused on getting the Bakersfield-to-Merced section up and running earlier, with a target of no later than 2033.
All of this falls under what officials are calling an “optimized plan,” which reduces the scope of the original proposal. Under the updated plan, some segments would share tracks with existing systems such as Metrolink, and the number of tunnels would be scaled back, at least for now.
Project leaders say those changes could significantly reduce costs. Without them, officials estimate the full Los Angeles-to-San Francisco buildout could have cost as much as $231 billion.
At Wednesday’s High-Speed Rail Authority board meeting, CEO Ian Choudri struck an optimistic tone, saying track laying between Bakersfield and Merced is expected to begin by the end of the year. He also praised a funding plan approved by the Democratic supermajority Legislature and Gov. Newsom that would provide $1 billion per year for the project through 2045.
“It gives us stable footing to move forward on the projects that we have currently underway,” Choudri said.
Critics remain unconvinced.
Republican state Sen. Tony Strickland called the project unaffordable, echoing criticism from President Donald Trump, who previously moved to pull billions in federal funding from the project.
“We can’t continue to spend billions and billions on a project that everybody here knows in Sacramento will never be built as proposed to the people of California,” Strickland said.
The High-Speed Rail Authority board is scheduled to vote on the updated plan later this month.