U.S. Transportation Secretary Duffy directs FRA to review California High-Speed Rail Project

The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) is under review by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) following direction from U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to evaluate if the nearly $4 billion federal funding should remain committed to the high-speed rail project.  

CHSRA oversees the planning, designing, building and operating of the high-speed rail system. When completed, Phase 1 of the high-speed rail system will connect San Francisco to the Los Angeles basin in under three hours at speeds above 200 mph. The system will eventually extend to Sacramento and San Diego, totaling 800 miles with up to 24 stations.  

FRA notes the entire San Francisco to Los Angeles project was initially supposed to be completed by 2020 and cost $33 billion. FRA says the Merced-Bakersfield segment has exceeded its original project total, and the entire project total is now $106 billion—three times more than the original estimate.  

“For too long, taxpayers have subsidized the massively over-budget and delayed California High-Speed Rail project,” Duffy said. “President Trump is right that this project is in dire need of an investigation. That is why I am directing my staff to review and determine whether the CHSRA has followed through on the commitments it made to receive billions of dollars in federal funding. If not, I will have to consider whether that money could be given to deserving infrastructure projects elsewhere in the United States.” 

According to a funding review of the Merced-Bakersfield segment conducted by the California High-Speed Rail Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in October 2024, this segment has a funding gap of about $6.5 billion and did not expect federal grants to be able to close this gap. The funding gap for this segment has a ripple effect on the rest of the project, impacting completion dates and schedules for revenue service. In the CHSRA’s OIG Review of the 2024 Business Plan, the report noted the “updated conclusion is that although there is no decisive evidence that the December 2030 operating date is not achievable, there is increasing risk to the feasibility of that schedule,” in regard to the Merced-Bakersfield segment.  

Given these findings, FRA says it will review CHSRA and the progress on the Merced-Bakersfield segment, including compliance under the FRA-administered grant agreements to determine whether CHSRA has fully met its obligations under the award terms.   

CHSRA’s project progress 

CHSRA has made progress on Phase 1, with 119 miles of active construction in the Central Valley with dozens of active construction sites. Additionally: 

• 422 miles of the 500-mile Phase 1 system from San Francisco to Los Angeles/Anaheim have been environmentally cleared.  
• The CHSRA has acquired almost all the right-of-way parcels needed for construction in the Central Valley.  
• The design work for construction in the Central Valley is nearing fully complete. 

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, CHSRA said, “We welcome this investigation & look forward to working with federal partners. CA High-Speed Rail has been audited over 100x, every dollar is accounted for & progress is real - 50 structures built, 14,600 jobs created & 171 miles under construction.” 

Despite project delays, polls still show a majority of registered voters in California support the project. In a 2022 survey conducted by UC Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies and the Los Angeles Times, 56 percent of registered voters "support the state continuing to build the high-speed rail project, even if, as is currently planned, its operations only extend from Bakersfield to Merced in the Central Valley by the year 2030 and to the Bay Area by the year 2033." Thirty-five percent of voters said they were opposed. 

In a February 2025 poll conducted by Emerson College Polling, “54 percent think California’s high-speed rail project is a good use of state funds, while 46 percent think it is a bad use of funds.” 

In response to the FRA’s compliance review, California State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-11) issued the following statement: 

“Fresh off his attack on New York City’s successful congestion pricing program — which is reducing traffic congestion, increasing foot traffic and funding public transportation — Donald Trump is now trying to destroy California’s High-Speed Rail project, which is under construction and moving forward. Trump is determined to increase traffic delays, make transportation more expensive, make our air dirtier and fuel climate change... 

“High-speed rail — or as I call it, a modern, integrated rail system for California — is essential for the future of our state. It will prevent traffic from clogging our roads, support massive growth in our economy, slash air pollution and restore California’s status as a leader on sustainable transportation. It’s an embarrassment that California does not have a modern statewide rail system — Trump wants to prolong that embarrassment instead of doing something to help. 

“High-speed rail is an incredibly transparent project that has nothing to hide. The project has an independent inspector general established by the legislature and is subject to ongoing, broad-based public scrutiny.”