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The California High Speed Rail Authority continues to face funding challenges with CEO Brian Kelly testifying to the Senate Transportation Committee the agency is “several billion dollars short” to make progress on the Central Valley segment. That 171-mile segment connects Merced and Bakersfield.
Kelly told lawmakers he has $28 billion dollars on hand. The Central Valley segment of the project is estimated to cost $16.1 billion and expected to be operational in 2030. Ultimately, high-speed rail transit is expected to connect the Bay Area to Los Angeles. The route passes through north San Benito County and Pacheco Pass. The entire project is expected to cost $128 billion and leave a deficit of $100 billion.
In a March 19 news release, the high speed rail authority focused more on the economic impact the project has had in the state, saying it had created “more than 13,000 construction jobs helping build the nation’s first high-speed rail system, with more than 70% of those jobs going to residents of California’s Central Valley.” On average, nearly 1,400 individuals are dispatched each day to a high-speed rail construction site, according to the authority.
According to the news release, over 9,000 Central Valley residents are working on the project.
- 4,222 jobs in Fresno County
- 2,538 in Kern County
- 1,282 in Tulare County
- 580 in Madera County
- 462 in Kings County
- 189 in Merced County
The remaining positions are held by 3,387 California residents from other counties; 369 are from out of state.
The authority has begun work to extend the initial 119 miles of the 171 miles from Merced to Bakersfield. There are currently more than 25 active construction sites in the Central Valley, and the authority has environmentally cleared 422 miles of the rail program from San Francisco to Los Angeles County.
According to its website, funding for the rail system comes from various sources but the “biggest challenge the authority has faced is securing full funding for delivering the entire high-speed rail system.”
Funding sources include Cap-and-Trade funding, Proposition 1A, as well as federal grants. For a more in-depth look see the latest Project Update Report.
Kelly’s 2024 CEO report is available here.
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