Two weeks after the Trump administration announced an examination of the compliance of the California high -speed rail project, the head of the rail authority highlighted the need for new sources of funding to guarantee the completion of the train.
At a meeting of the board of directors Thursday, the CEO of the Rail Authority at high speed, Ian Choudri, said that the authority will continue to request federal dollars while warning that the calendar and the price could increase if a significant financing difference is not concluded.
Choudri said Thursday that he had “concluded, if we do not stabilize a financing approach on this subject, ineffectures” will continue to present a risk of planning and cost.
He said that industry experts met to establish a plan and that he will continue to communicate with the Governor’s office, the Department of Finance and the Legislative Assembly.
Choudri’s comments arise while the project faces a new meticulous examination which could compromise federal funding commitments both that planners are already trying to find tens of billions of dollars to complete the rail system. The exam will focus on a promise of $ 4 billion made under the Biden administration for the construction of the central valley.
Challenges on the calendar and project budget were recognized during previous meetings of the Board of Directors by members, transit experts and project leadership. The first part of the line should open 13 years after the entire project was originally carried out – in 2020 – and the budget is approximately $ 100 billion more than the $ 30 billion initially offered. The legislators and an advisory group appointed by the State claim that private investments will be necessary to complete the project.
Representative Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin), an obstinate critic of the railway line, sent a letter to the FBI director, Kash Patel, sent the agency to investigate the authority on Tuesday. This occurs after Kiley previously introduced a bill to finance the project and asked the Ministry of Transport to initiate an investigation.
“How is it possible to have spent more than $ 13 billion without a single station opening?” Where did these funds go? Who took advantage of it, “he wrote.
The authority said they had welcomed the investigation and published on X that the project had been audited more than 100 times.
“Each dollar is taken into account and progress is real – 50 structures built, 14,600 jobs created and 171 miles under construction.”
More than 80% of spending was funded by the State, the chairman of the board of directors of California High-Speed Rail Authority, Tom Richards said on Tuesday.
The construction of the project was limited to a section in the central valley, with a segment of Bakersfield in Merced which should be completed by 2033. Although the whole road from San Francisco in Los Angeles was released from the environment last year for construction, there is no clear calendar for the moment when construction is starting elsewhere.
Richards stressed that the project will affect states beyond California in order to establish a southwest corridor which would include Arizona and New Mexico, and reiterated plans to connect to the private project of Brightline West, which would connect southern California to Las Vegas.
“It’s not just a Californian project,” said Richards.
California Daily Newspapers
