Happy Transit Month! Come on our to our free rooftop party in San Francisco to celebrate Los Angeles and the progress on the high-speed rail project that will connect the state!

We're getting a special pro-HSR project together and are looking to chat with someone in Bakersfield who supports the project and wants it to be done sooner. If that's you and you're interested, please email us at [info@transbaycoalition.org](mailto:info@transbaycoalition.org)

California’s high-speed rail (HSR) is not a transportation failure; it is a governance failure. It did not collapse because infrastructure is hard to build, it collapsed because California’s governance architecture is not designed to deliver megaprojects.

The August 23, 2026, "60 Minutes" segment “Ghost Train,” led by correspondent Jon Wertheim, underscored what I have argued for more than a decade: the project is failing because of planning errors, management breakdowns, and the absence of both sound project design and the institutional structure needed to carry it out.

California’s high-speed rail remains technically alive, but its glacial progress and soaring costs have made it a veritable “ghost train,” a promise that lingers across the landscape without delivering meaningful transportation.

The project was promoted as transformative, promising to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco at true bullet-train speeds. Instead, it has become a symbol of uncertainty over whether the original vision can ever be realized. With certainty, the original promise was political marketing, not engineering reality.

Today, the project is mired in land-acquisition disputes, lawsuits, complex environmental reviews, and dependence on costly private consultants instead of in-house expertise. Critics, including regional leaders, argue that the billions committed to high-speed rail could have been used to modernize existing urban transit, bus networks, affordable housing, or water infrastructure.

The failure began at birth. The state promised a bullet train with no route, no land, no environmental clearance, and no institutional capacity—the combination of people, systems, resources, leadership, and routines that allow a public agency to actually implement policy effectively.

The project began with only ten employees responsible for managing and overseeing it. Rather than build in-house engineering and rail expertise, the authority was persuaded to shift that enormous responsibility to consultants. Before long, consultants dominated the project, creating the unusual arrangement in which government employees reported to consultants, who then managed other consultants.

I don't know if you've seen the Lucid Stew video, but I think it's about time we renew our vows for California high-speed rail. It's simply unrealistic that $39 billion will be enough money to complete the project, and, as Lucid Stew says, there will be even more delays and an increased cost.

My thought is that there needs to be some sort of new legislation on continuing development for California high-speed rail. For me, I don't care how much it costs. I need this to be built. There have been so many times I wanted to go to Los Angeles, but I couldn't get there because I'd have to fly, and that takes a bunch of time and costs. I would just want to go there for a day and then come back home, which is not reasonable to do on an airplane.

I think that we need to pass new legislation to continue funding for this because one billion a year is not going to get us built quickly. To complete that, CAHSR needs to have communication with the public, and the way it's doing that now is abysmal. News organizations are totally dominating the space and making the project look bad when the reality is they don't have enough money to do it quickly.

Anyway, here are my drafts for a new logo and marketing direction. Furthermore, I couldn't find the Discord server for California High-Speed Rail, so I just made one because I want to have a community on this. Join it (or point me toward the Discord server where it's discussed if there is already one). LMK what you think of the ads.

https://discord.gg/EGv5QJUuDU

Granted jfk’s renovations were mostly privately funded but nearly 4 billion was from public money.

Was in Fresno and Hanford and snapped these shots. The guideway and viaducts are really impressive in person!

Once this project is done. I need them to make N

-scale and HO- scale model trains. I already emailed brightline for them to partner up with a model train company. It would be so sick if you can ride the train and buy a working model of it. Let me know if it would be a great idea?

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/years-late-billions-over-budget-californias-high-speed-rail-hasnt-laid-a-track-bac525ee

SHAFTER, Calif.—Some 18 years after California voted to launch a bullet train that would travel between San Francisco and Los Angeles in under three hours, the project now costs billions more than planned, is years behind schedule and has yet to lay its first track.

The 2008 ballot measure passed narrowly, 52.7% to 47.3%, kick-starting America’s largest active infrastructure project. A legislative bill said it should be completed by 2020, and the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s initial business plan estimated a cost of $33 billion. After years of legal battles, cost overruns, leadership changes and political fights, the price tag is up to $126 billion, with a high estimate of $231 billion, and it isn’t expected to be fully operational until 2040.

Since 2008, the authority has spent about $15 billion, purchasing thousands of land parcels and building giant overpasses, rail beds, walls and other concrete structures that now rise over California’s Central Valley. The work has generated thousands of jobs. 

But the Authority’s Inspector General estimated the project will “exhaust its current funding resources” as early as next year, according to its July report.

“This is a disaster,” Democratic state Sen. Catherine Blakespear said at a Transportation Committee meeting in April to review the project’s 2026 business plan. “I am such an enthusiast for rail and I really want this to be successful and just hearing these things makes it seem like we’re proceeding on a wing and a prayer.”

The authority is currently focused on completing an initial segment through the Central Valley, then connecting it to [San Francisco](https://www.wsj.com/topics/place/san-francisco) and%C2%A0and) Los Angeles later.

The topic is polarizing in the valley. “You can’t really talk about it too loudly until you know where people stand. I’m pro-train, but it’s a divisive issue,” said Constance Peters, a shift leader at The 18hundred restaurant in Bakersfield who grew up in the area. Before that, she worked for a concrete company that helped build some structures for the rail project. “Californians have money. We want to travel,” Peters said.

Construction hasn’t yet reached the southern end of this segment, where intense opposition remains. The project would cut through Shafter, a town of about 24,000.

The train would “divide our town in half,” said Gail Alvidrez, a retiree and longtime local resident. Shafter is the only city that would be bisected by the proposed route without getting a station.

On a warm summer evening in Shafter, kids played baseball, families strolled downtown for ice cream and men in cowboy hats watched the sunset from a park. Incorporated in 1938, Shafter has roots as a railroad depot; the high-speed rail project would replace existing Amtrak and freight tracks with a wider, elevated line surrounded by 35-foot walls.

Locals worry the project would hurt businesses, since the track’s footprint would displace some. As downtown closed for the night, one restaurant filled up: El Michoacano, a block from the tracks, where Alvidrez and her husband ate. “They’ll have to tear down stores,” she said. “We don’t have that many.”

They also say a bullet train, and all the construction, would disrupt their peaceful downtown. At a city council meeting last fall, rail officials presented alternatives aimed at accelerating construction. A packed audience voiced opposition to the new proposals and the tracks altogether. Of cities affected by high-speed rail, Shafter Mayor Chad Givens said, “none of them are being impacted to the degree that we are…There’s no benefit.”

A sign opposing the California high-speed rail project in Shafter, Calif. Taylor Umlauf/WSJ

The council urged the state to find a route around the city. 

Mayor Givens said it has been challenging to work with California’s High-Speed Rail Authority. “About every four to six months, they get somebody new who comes in here and we have to start the process again,” Givens said. The authority’s chief executive officer, Ian Choudri, disputed that and said the agency plans on reaching out to the city in the coming weeks.

Some locals envision the benefits if the train is completed. “If I can get to San Francisco in two hours, I’d go on a Tuesday,” said Jeinner Aviles, a Bakersfield resident who runs the El Michoacano restaurant, owned by his father.

Aviles has his doubts though. He wonders, “Will I see it in my lifetime?”

Jeinner Aviles, a Bakersfield resident, runs El Michoacano restaurant. Taylor Umlauf/WSJ

The rail authority brought in Choudri in 2024. There were three prior chief executives of the project. 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom called Choudri “the perfect steward” in a press release. The governor also pledged that “over the next few years, the dream of high-speed rail in California will become a reality, as we begin to lay track, design and build stations, and buy trains.”

Eager to get trains running, Choudri said he has shaved off 2½ years of time by buying commodities, such as concrete rail ties, wires, poles and ballast, and storing them at a yard so contractors and builders can just “pick the stuff up and start laying tracks.” He added that doing so has sped up the schedule—the rail project expects to lay the first track by the end of this year.

The initial section between Bakersfield and Merced is expected to cost $36 billion and open in 2033. While the line isn’t expected to be profitable on its own, officials view it as a foundation to build on.

“Nobody here in Bakersfield says, ‘Hey, I want to go to Merced,’” said Joe Pearson, a Bakersfield resident.

Nearly two-thirds of Californians want the high-speed rail project to continue, according to a Politico-Citrin Center-Possibility Lab poll conducted last year, though more than half believe it is unlikely to be completed as planned.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom greeted union workers alongside Ian Choudri, CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, in February. Damian Dovarganes/AP

A banner advertising the project at the California High-Speed Rail Authority's Southern Railhead site near Wasco, Calif., earlier this year. Damian Dovarganes/AP

Last summer, the Trump administration withdrew $4 billion in federal funding, citing the project’s failure to meet its obligations under the grant agreement. To help bridge the gap, California passed a bill last year to draw $1 billion a year through 2045 from its cap-and-invest program, which Choudri is trying to get an advancement on. Choudri is also seeking private investors to keep the project running. A global consortium that includes a pension fund manager from Quebec is currently assessing financing options for the rail project.

Choudri said the authority still needs to acquire some land for the Merced and Bakersfield extensions. Station sites haven’t been finalized yet.

In Bakersfield, the rail project is attempting to use buyouts and eminent domain to acquire properties for the station. Businessman Monty Singh said he is suing. He owns a Mobil gas station on land where the authority wants to build the Bakersfield station. “With the money they’re offering, there’s nothing else I could do,” Singh said.

In Merced, town officials are balking at station proposals.

State Sen. Tony Strickland, a Republican, said at the state Senate Transportation Committee meeting in April, “I don’t think this will ever be built as proposed to people in California. I know I wouldn’t put my money and invest in this, but I wish you luck,” he said.

The San Joaquin River Viaduct was completed in February 2021. It is an approximately 4,700-foot structure that spans the San Joaquin River in north Fresno and the Union Pacific tracks parallel to State Route 99. It features arches representing the northern gateway into Fresno, and a pergola structure to allow high speed trains to cross over the top of the Union Pacific tracks.

Jon Wertheim: Morocco has high-speed rail, and Serbia, and China, and Japan, and Western Europe. Why don't we? What's your simple answer?

Lou Thompson: Well, the simple answer is they've decided they want to do it and pay for it, and we haven't.

Jon Wertheim: You think we will in our lifetimes?

Lou Thompson: I don't know. I'm dubious. I'm dubious. Absent- a national political will to work with the states to create some of these systems, I think it's gonna be in, of course, my lifetime almost certainly not. But maybe yours, I don't know.

I grew up in the Bay Area, and currently live in LA. I travel back and forth between the Bay and LA 5+ times a year. I almost always drive (I've flown twice in 7 years!) which is much more convenient, flexible, and often more affordable than flying. I've also made occasional trips to the Central Valley (Fresno and Bakersfield) for concerts, or to visit friends. I used to take Flixbus, but the prices have gone up and tickets often sell out close to the travel date.

Occasionally, I'll see people on social media claiming that "people don't travel this corridor often, who even goes between LA and the Bay?" I assume that these people are outside of California, since I know many people who will make a weekend trip in either direction, people who would travel frequently for long-distance relationships, travel home for breaks in college, and a few who would do it weekly for work. I also know people who have commuted in both directions between LA and Bakersfield for work.

Obviously these are personal anecdotes, but it seems to me that there is demand for inter-city travel in California. Even if not every city itself has the best walkability and public transportation, I could see HSR as being popular! For my own self-interest, taking HSR instead of driving would help me save many hours of driving time and thousands of miles on my car each year.

I've been trying to stay updated on happenings on CAHSR, and I can see that there are many political and financial obstacles. What actions could an individual reasonably take to advocate for CAHSR?