Uncle Sam has had enough of California’s under-construction bullet train now that it’s been 16 years in the making, with zero operational track built so far. The Federal Railroad Administration released a scathing report this week claiming that the effort to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco with a high-speed train violated federal grant terms and that “no viable path” exists for on-time, within-budget completion. It said it would pull $4 billion in federal funding from the project, which Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called a boondoggle. A chorus of California lawmakers criticized the decision, while the California High Speed Rail Authority said that it is committed to finishing the first phase of the train line, even without federal funding, noting that the undertaking is primarily funded by the state. But the Trump administration is not alone in slamming the project. It has long served as fodder for critics claiming that America has become chronically incapable of building anything bigger than a McDonald’s drive-thru. So, let’s take a look at what’s stalling Californians’ dreams of zipping around on trains like the ones that make Americans jealous any time they visit Europe or Asia. Major delays In 2008, Californians voted to approve $10 billion in state funding for a bullet train that would whisk passengers between Los Angeles and San Francisco in under three hours (compared to a six-hour drive on a good day) by 2020. But fast-forward to 2025, and the train exists only in the fantasies of transit nerds dreaming up high-speed rail maps connecting six continents. Things have gone…off the rails: - The initial $33 billion projected cost of the project has swelled to as much as $128 billion, while the proposed LA–SF route has been reduced to a stretch connecting the smaller Central Valley cities of Merced and Bakersfield.
- Construction on the abbreviated rural route—which the Trump administration disparaged as “a 119-mile track to nowhere” in its report—is expected to be completed by 2033.
Why is the train so late? Governor Gavin Newsom and the California High Speed Rail Authority blame the holdup on legal wrangling involving the 2,270 private properties that lie in its path. The train route cuts through ultra-valuable farmland, which is laced with complex irrigation systems and other agricultural infrastructure. Eminent domain allows the government to acquire private land for public use, but the process has involved complex and time-consuming litigation over fair compensation to farmers, which critics say is drawn out due to the slow-moving courts. Then, there is a complex web of federal and state environmental regulations that have contributed to a prolonged review process, which only ended last year. Meanwhile, other experts contend that the protracted construction timeline is largely due to various complications in accessing the allocated funding. Questionable route Some critics say that the problem lies with the route chosen by the transit authority. Central Valley farmers have criticized the train path for diagonally dividing their plots and cutting them off from key infrastructure and roadways, spurring them to fight for higher compensation. Some transit experts say that it would have made more sense to lay track along Interstate 5, thereby forgoing the need to fight eminent domain battles. That’s the strategy taken by Brightline West, a private high-speed rail project that’s being built to link Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Meanwhile, transit journalist Benjamin Schneider argues that California overextended itself by aiming to cover rural communities between the Bay Area and LA, as well as by committing to launching a train that travels at a whopping 220 mph. He believes that the state should’ve focused on the narrower but more feasible goal of connecting the two large metro areas by building along I-5 or by upgrading existing tracks. New York Times Opinion columnist Ezra Klein, who has emerged as a locomotive force in the anti-bureaucratic hurdles movement, noted that the choice to start building in the rural Central Valley was driven by the Obama administration’s decision to prioritize projects that would improve air quality in poor communities. This set up the current phase of the railway to serve a lower ridership, which might make approving further funding a tougher sell for Californians. Perhaps not all is lost. Much of the funding comes from the state, and the California High Speed Rail Authority is reportedly seeking private sector investors to bankroll the train, though that would entail guaranteeing that the tracks will actually connect SF and LA. In the meantime, the transportation authority has 30 days to show that the Trump administration’s report is wrong to avoid losing federal funding.—SK | 
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