High-speed rail project to receive billions in funding

California lawmakers OK $1 billion a year through 2045 as U.S. funds still uncertain.

- BY COLLEEN SHALBY

A FULL-SCALE mock-up of a high-speed train is displayed outside the state Capitol in Sacramento in 2015.

California’s high-speed rail project is slated to receive $1 billion a year in funding through the state’s cap-and-trade program through 2045 — a relief to lawmakers who had urged the Legislature to approve the request as billions in federal funding remain in jeopardy.

State leaders called the move, which is pending a final vote from the Legislature, a necessary step to cementing investments from the private sector — an area of focus for project officials. And the project’s chief executive, Ian Choudri, said the agreement is crucial to completing the current priority — a 171-mile portion from Merced to Bakersfield — by 2033.

"This funding agreement resolves all identified funding gaps for the Early Operating Segment in the Central Valley and opens the door for meaningful public-private engagement with the program,” Choudri said in a statement. “And we must also work toward securing the long-term funding — beyond today’s commitment — that can bring high-speed rail to California’s population centers, where ridership and revenue growth will in turn support future expansions.”

The project was originally proposed with a 2020 completion date, but so far, no segment of the line has been finished. It’s also about $100 billion over the original $33-billion budget that was originally proposed to voters and has received considerable pushback from Republican lawmakers and some Democrats. The Trump administration recently moved to pull $4 billion in funding that was slated for construction in the Central Valley; in turn, the state sued.

Still, advocates of the project believe it’s crucial to the state’s economy and to the nation’s innovation in transit.