California’s frequently postponed high-speed rail projects will require billions of dollars to raise additional funds by the summer of 2026, according to local Sacramento news outlet KCRA3.
Officials from the California Legislative Analyst office told lawmakers at a transportation budget hearing on Wednesday that $7 billion in additional funding should be secured for development by June 2026. According to To KCRA3. The project was originally pitched around 2020 as a $40 billion “bullet train” system that connected Los Angeles and San Francisco, but the price tag surged beyond $100 billion, with the completion of the 2030 Bakersfield line not expected. (Related: “Insolvency and Fool”: Biden-Harris Management
Biden Administrator Signal supports the struggles of high-speed rail projects. Critics say it’s “boondoggle” https://t.co/9deqjvxhaa
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According to KCRA3, Helen Caltein, an official at the California Legislative Analyst Office, said: “This is not a path to future funding gaps. This is a fairly pressing funding gap.”
Wednesday’s hearing did not last long, according to KCRA3, as the California High Speed Railroad Bureau failed to submit a full update report on time. A representative from the High Speed Railroad Bureau said he expects a full report will be available by this summer, and is stimulating some of the lawmakers present.
“We don’t have a plan, it’s likely to get worse and we have a short time to solve the problem,” said Democrat California Congressman Stephen Bennett, according to KCRA3. “That’s not a good place for the government to put itself in.”
California has spent about $14 billion on high-speed rail projects to date, but expects it will need to spend at least $28 billion to finally complete the combined line, according to KCRA3. According to Fresnoby, the Francisco line in Los Angeles and Sun can clear all the environmental review hurdles needed in 2024, with “pre-construction plans” in the Bay Area segment ongoing.
As of September 2023, the state had spent about $600 million on environmental reviews of the project, despite little progress towards system completion and initiation operations. Furthermore, the union was one of the large, large beneficiaries of previous projects.
The Trump administration is currently investigating how $4 billion in federal funds have been spent on the project.
The California Department of High Speed Railroads did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Call News Foundation.
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