SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Ian Choudri will be the new CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, the agency’s board of directors announced after a closed-session meeting today (Aug. 8, 2024).
Choudri, currently senior vice president for consulting firm HNTB, has more than 30 years in transportation, including work on high speed rail projects in France and Spain. He will succeed Brian Kelly, who announced in January that he would depart once the authority found a successor.
Board chairman Tom Richards said in the authority’s announcement that Choudri’s “strong understand of complex transportation projects will help build on the progress we’ve been making and lead the organization forward on a path to passenger service.” Choudri, who called the effort to build a 220-mph service between Los Angeles and San Francisco “a once-in-a-lifetime project that has the attention of the nation,” said he looks forward to “joining the ranks of the dedicated employees at the Authority, roiling up my sleeves,a nd working collectively to make our mark on high-speed rail in California.”
Choudri’s experience in California includes working with the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority to develop a connection between Ontario International Airport and the future Brightline West terminus in Rancho Cucamonga.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a press release that Choudri “is taking control at an important moment for this project. Over the next few years, the dream of high-speed rail in California will become a reality as we begin to lay track, design and build stations, and buy trains. Ian is the perfect steward for the next phase of high-speed rail.”
Richards and Newsom both thanked Kelly for his six years as the agency CEO. In announcing his plans to depart in January, Kelly had said he felt he had achieved many of his goals to stabilize the organization and improve its performance [see “Head of California high speed rail agency to step down,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 30, 2024].
The project recently received environmental approval for the Palmdale-Burbank portion of the route, completing clearance for the full San Francisco-Los Angeles route [see “Environmental approval now complete …,” News Wire, July 1, 2024]. The only portion still to complete environmental review is the Los Angeles-Anaheim segment; that is expected next year.
Today’s announcement does not indicate when Choudri will begin in his new job.
I’d rather he begins by just admitting it’s the biggest public works fiasco in all of human history.