California’s High-Speed Rail Authority board postponed a planned Wednesday vote to approve a 2026 business plan, following criticism from state lawmakers and officials who said the plan lacks transparency, omits key cost details, and violates state law.
The authority in February released a draft of its 2026 business plan, focused on completing an initial bullet train segment between Bakersfield and Merced. State law requires the report to detail completion strategies for the original San Francisco-to-Los Angeles line, as well as up-to-date costs and timelines.
Driving the delay: According to the plan, the Bakersfield-to-Merced segment is projected to cost $36 billion and could be completed by 2033.
- Estimates for extending service from San Francisco to Los Angeles have ballooned to as much as $231 billion.
- During a Monday hearing of the State Senate Transportation Committee, the project’s inspector general and a legislative adviser warned that the plan fails to meet legal requirements for cost and schedule disclosure.
- The current draft assumes lawmakers and the governor will approve major changes to state law and implements significant project modifications that have not yet been authorized.
- Officials cautioned that the lack of transparency could leave the state paying more for a stripped-down version of the rail system.
- One controversial change is the proposed relocation of the Merced high-speed rail station from downtown to a more suburban area.
- Critics said the draft lacks sufficient details about the new site and its potential impacts on the community.
- The business plan also shifts from a double-track system to a single-track line, raising concerns among lawmakers about whether the project would still qualify as “high speed.”
What they’re saying: Helen Kerstein, with the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, and Inspector General Benjamin Belnap told lawmakers the draft business plan lacks sufficient transparency about those changes.
- Belnap warned that required year-to-year cost comparisons and a comprehensive funding strategy for the Bakersfield-to-Merced segment are missing, putting the project billions of dollars short.
- “My office has reviewed the draft business plan and found it falls short of complying with statutory requirements that allow the legislature to have a clear view of project conditions and be able to hold project officials accountable for those conditions,” Belnap said. “I am concerned that the authority appears to be making strategic decisions about what information it shares in annual reports.”
- State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-San Diego, was highly critical, calling the report “a disaster” and expressing concern over what she described as intentionally deceptive omissions.
- When the board meeting began Wednesday in Sacramento, Chairman Tom Richards announced that the vote on the business plan would be postponed until May.
- He said the delay was necessary to “address a large volume of public comments as well as to have the authority to continue coordinating with administration to better align fiscal year budget cycle.”
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