Investigation into California’s High-Speed Rail Project
A bipartisan parliamentary committee is set to investigate claims that California’s high-speed rail agency misrepresented ridership forecasts and financial outlooks to secure federal funding, as alleged by the Trump administration.
In a letter sent to the Department of Transportation on Tuesday, the House Committee on Surveillance and Government Reform, led by Chairman James Comer, requested briefings and all relevant communications regarding the federal funding analysis for the high-speed rail project as well as the trains’ viability.
“Despite multiple warnings from experts, the authorities’ misleading ridership predictions raise significant doubts about whether funds were allocated under false pretenses,” Comer stated.
The letter also included Rep. Robert Garcia, the committee’s leading Democrat, who has voiced skepticism about the project. Garcia, representing a Southern California district, was not immediately available for comment.
A spokesperson for the agency termed the House Committee’s investigation as “another unfounded attempt to create controversy around one of America’s largest and most complex infrastructure projects,” pointing out that the project’s CEO, Ian Tudri, had previously described the claims as misleading.
Last month, the Trump administration withdrew $4 billion in federal funding from a project aimed at constructing a line in the Central Valley. After months of reviews following pressure from Republican lawmakers, the administration has proposed a “workable path” that includes fast trains, albeit with costs running into the billions over budget and slower schedules. There are questions about whether the expected ridership numbers were misrepresented.
California leaders condemned the move as “illegal” and filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for both declaratory and injunctive relief. Governor Gavin Newsom criticized it as a “political stunt” targeting the Central Valley.
Bullet train proposals have existed for decades, aiming to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco in three hours by 2020. Although the entire line passed environmental reviews, the route has not been completed. Currently, construction is limited to the Central Valley, with officials estimating that the segment between Merced and Bakersfield will open by 2033. The project’s total cost is anticipated to be around $100 billion, a drastic increase from the original $33 billion budget.
Concerns about the project’s long-term financial sustainability were raised even before the White House’s funding withdrawal. About $13 billion has been spent so far, mostly funded by the state, which proposes to allocate $1 billion annually for the project. However, Tudri mentioned that new funding sources must be identified, emphasizing the need for public-private partnerships to cover costs.
