Helen Kerstein, a representative from the California Legislative Analyst Office, had the unenviable task of appearing before California lawmakers and giving them the bad news about the high-speed rail system currently under construction somewhere north of Los Angeles.
Kerstein admitted to lawmakers that the project needs another $7 billion by June 2026 or work will grind to a halt.
She said there was “no specific plan to meet that roughly $7 billion gap” and added that there is “some risk that that gap could grow.”
“Some risk” = drop-dead certainty.
“This isn’t a way out in the future funding gap. This is a pretty immediate funding gap,” she said.
Phase 1 of the project was originally estimated to cost $33 billion. Current estimates are north of $128 billion, and with this latest ask, projected costs are useless in any realistic sense.
The first phase will be from Merced to Bakersfield. That initial construction was chosen because it is the easiest to build topographically. It’s relatively flat, and some existing tracks can be used.
About $23 billion has been spent to date, with the total cost of the Merced-Bakersfield stretch to hit $35 billion and be completed in 2033. Since nothing relating to this project has ever come in on time or under budget, you have to wonder why they even bother guessing.
Hellbound and Down 