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California’s delayed, over-budget high-speed train from Los Angeles to San Francisco is running fast in only one direction: Rising costs to even get rolling, which are now estimated to be $126 billion.
“Today, we estimate with the right optimization just over $125 billion,” California High Speed Rail Authority board member Anthony Williams told CBS’s “60 Minutes” on Sunday. “I think $126 billion is the current estimate for that.”
That is nearly four times the $33 billion price tag presented to voters in 2008, making the long-delayed project a black eye for Democratic-run California, derided as the latest political example of “waste” in deep-blue America and a “train to nowhere.”
“We’re now in 2026: There are no trains; there’s no track laid; it was a complete bait and switch,” Rep. Vince Fong, R-Calif., told “60 Minutes,” saying the project “needs to stop.”
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“The California high-speed rail nightmare is the probably quintessential example of government waste and mismanagement.”
California’s long-troubled high-speed rail project is facing renewed scrutiny after state Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin acknowledged that many of its critics have a point.
“There were mistakes made,” Omishakin told CBS. “Some of the criticisms on this project, I think, are very fair.”
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“I don’t think the voters fully understood, and neither did we in the public sector, what it was going to take to actually get this project delivered,” Omishakin added.
Taking aim at California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, President Donald Trump called California’s project “the worst cost overrun, I’ve ever seen,” a statement he has in the past reserved for Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell’s Federal Reserve Building in Washington, D.C.
“This administration is working to usher in a Golden Age of Transportation,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told CBS in a statement. “That vision includes high speed rail and we’re exploring opportunities to efficiently build that infrastructure in America.
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“What this administration won’t stand for is boondoggle projects like Newsom’s Train to Nowhere that wasted billions in taxpayer dollars yet delivered nothing to the American people,” Duffy said. “Under President Trump, America is building again. We defunded Newsom’s disaster and created the first Trump Infrastructure Dividend. Those dollars will now actually fund critical projects that enhance safety on rail networks across America.”
Newsom himself cast doubt on the full San Francisco-to-Los Angeles plan in 2019, and the project now faces a funding gap of roughly $90 billion.
“For $10 billion, Elon Musk put 300 rockets in orbit; for $11 billion, the state of California has built 1,600 feet of elevated rail with no rail,” Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar said in 2024.
State officials say they remain confident more money can be found to dump into the project, but for now California’s high-speed rail stands as a costly symbol of ambition, delay and deep public skepticism.
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“The ultimate 494 miles of building this out without the federal government’s help will be challenging: There’s no doubt about that,” Omishakin said.
Nearly two decades since the start of the project, no track has been laid, and the only major visible progress is on a Central Valley segment between Bakersfield and Merced, according to the report.
The project’s earliest projected opening is now 2033, far later than originally promised. Critics, including Bakersfield’s Fong, a member of the House Transportation Committee.
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“The business plan that was put out in 2008 was very theoretical,” Fong said. “You know, ‘This is what we think is gonna happen.’
“And it became very clear that they didn’t have the specifics worked out.”
Fong has sought oversight and accountability on the waste, including 597 change orders that have cost more than $2.3 billion alone as of November 2025, which is nearly 7% of the initial $33 billion project estimate.
“Taxpayers deserve full transparency and accountability,” Fong wrote in a statement in February. “The high-speed rail nightmare is a glaring example of structural mismanagement.
“Reckless, repeated contract amendments have squandered resources and precious tax dollars. Hardworking California taxpayers cannot afford to let this continue. This project should be canceled before even more money and time are wasted.”
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