SACRAMENTO — The start of California high speed rail operations between Bakersfield and Merced is unlikely to meet its current target, according to a new report from the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s Office of Inspector General.
The Authority, however, says such a pronouncement is premature.
A report released Monday, Feb. 3, indicates that while the Authority’s business plan of May 2024 sets 2030 as the target and 2033 as part of a “schedule envelope” reflecting project uncertainties, an Inspector General review says its review found the target has been pushed back to 2031 and staying within the 2033 envelope is unlikely. The adjustment to 2031 reflects extended timelines for current construction in the 119-mile Merced-Bakersfield segment.
“As of now, a quarter of the way through the eight-year timeline it set in 2023, the Authority’s schedule adjustments have already used a third of the excess time provided by the schedule envelope,” the report reads. Construction work that was to be completed by early 2026 is now not expected to be done until the end of 2026, the report says, while the Authority says a change in procuring track construction and system installation has also led to a delay. The report says the authority has not maintained its procurement timetable and departed from its strategies to obtain federal funding.
Among the report’s recommendations are that the authority develop options for starting service on a limited segment of the Merced-Bakersfield route by 2033, that it present a new procurement timeline reflecting its changes in that area, and that the authority conduct an analysis of its schedule and publish results, including its confidence level in its current target date.
The authority, in a response, says it is too soon to determine if the one-year delay means operations will not begin by 2033 “as mitigation measures have not yet been fully evaluated.” It agreed to present an revised procurement schedule, but said it will not conduct a risk analysis of the overall schedule until after the procurement schedule is revised.
The high speed authority’s inspector general position was established in September 2023, with Ben Belnap, who spent 22 years in the California State Auditor’s Office, appointed to the position. More on the Office of Inspector General is available here.
“I try to be cynical, it’s impossible to keep up ! ”
(Lily Tomlin quoted sometime back in the 1960s ….)
As with all things any government entity gets involved with these days, it will never be completed on time. Trying to stay positive. We do need to do these kinds of projects to advance the country and learn the art of building high speed rail.
Unfortunately, in the U.S. every project is politically charged. Okay build, don’t build, here is some money, nope funding canceled. Can’t build in this neighborhood, build it over there, can’t move over it there because a “sacred” squirrel (haha) lives there. Then try and get a permit to build, good luck with that. The cost overruns should be expected, every delay means the cost goes up. Living in MA we can compare this to the “Big Dig” Billions of dollars paid for by everyone in the country to save commuters some time on daily commuting. Boston is more accessible though if you want to visit.
DAVID — Boston’s Big Dig, one of the most complex and difficult civil engineering projects in worldwide history, ran into cost overruns but it got done. CalHSR is a much simpler project by orders of magnitude, at least in the Central Valley, but it’s not getting done.
From what I have read, CalHSR in the Central Valley isn’t much of an engineering challenge. (Seismic design aside.) Why it has cost so much and been delayed so much escapes me. Having been born in Boston I know all about the extreme difficulties of the Big Dig, (For just one example, building the downtown-side of the I-90 Ted Williams Tunnel through a centuries-old garbage dump). Exactly none of which CalHSR has run into so far.
No matter how much CalHSR may be needed or how beneficial it might be were it ever completed, I have no confidence in the people running that show. They need to refund their salaries to taxpayers like me who paid them, and they need to turn in their Professional Engineering licenses.
Charles, Couldn’t agree more about the “Big Dig” We toured the project on New Years Day a couple times when they had tours. It is crazy to think they even new where to begin. One year I remember being in the tunnel and looking around at all the obstacles (infrastructure) they had to work around, it was insane. In regards to CAHSR, as I said I was “trying to be positive”.
Another snowy day in MA. Thanks for a kind response.
This is the least surprising news I will receive this week.
Make a list of those responsible for CalHSR. I don’t mean some junior engineer just doing his or her job. I mean anyone involved in decision-makiing. Blacklist the whole lot of them from any involvement with Gateway or Frederick Douglass.
I’m a patriotic American. I believe we can build the East Coast megaprojects on time, on budget, if we keep the California losers in California and don’t let them ever cross the border into the United States.
I have many friends on the honor roll plaque (9th and Clybourn Streets) for Milwaukee’s IH 43/ 94/ 794 Marquette Interchange. On time, on budget. (And unlike CalHSR, built under traffic.) Don’t say it can’t be done. It has been done.
The old saying claims, “A boat is a hole that you throw money into.” I guess we have a new hole to throw money into. Or, more accurately, a bottomless pit.
Quite right Charles.
It’s unlikely to operate from Bakersfield to Merced by 2030.
I thought it was supposed to go from San Franscisco to Los Angeles.
The time to shut down this project was before it started.
Trump need to recover the federal funds sunk into this garbage can.
The Project Analysts say it is too early to declare that the CalHSR will not be completed on time. What do they base that on? “Well our consultants say…” and there is the problem. They are relying on people who know that their dinner at the public trough last only so long. So by continuing to say that delay discussions are “premature” they continue the illusion that someone with Big Bucks (USG) will eventually rush in and save the day and then they will say they were right all the time.
What should really happen is that all these scattered HSR projects and their funding that have no hope of being completed any time before the deadline should be put on indefinite hold or canceled, the consultants laid off or fired and all these funds repurposed to rebuilding the Pacific Palisades, Eaton/Pasadena and any other cities that suffered destruction by fire that could have been prevented or highly mitigated had two people pulled their heads out of their “fundamental orifices” and paid attention to what was really important: protecting their citizens by providing needed resources, (WATER) not pie in the sky PR stunts. This is just what CalHSR is becoming, A PR Stunt. And by the way, The USG will not be rebuilding these cities for you Gruesome Gavin and Boo-betty Bass. So, you had better start figuring out now how you are going to do that for the citizens who stupidly elected you thinking you cared about them. I’d say redirecting the 50 million dollars you allocated to keep Trump out of California should be the first order of business. And the hits just keep on rolling…