First section of CA bullet train to connect two small cities at a cost of over $30B

[Hoodat]

First section of CA bullet train to connect two small cities at a cost of over $30B

According to CHSRA, the segment, from will cost between $32.7 billion to $36.3 billion, but is on track to be completed on time.

Kenneth Schrupp  |  June 19, 2025  |  11:08 pm

The California High-Speed Rail Authority has responded to the Federal Rail Authority’s plan to terminate $4 billion in federal funding for the Los Angeles-to-San Francisco high-speed rail project.

Its response elaborates on its plans for continuing initial work on a 119-mile segment between Madera, which has a population of nearly 70,000, and Poplar Avenue in Kern County, which is near Shafter, a small city of just over 20,000 residents northwest of Bakersfield.

This segment is being expanded into the 171-mile “early operating segment” that will carry passengers all the way between Bakersfield and Merced by 2033.

According to CHSRA, the segment will cost between $32.7 billion to $36.3 billion, but is on track to be completed on time. The project has received enough re-authorized funding from California’s cap-and-trade program, which charges companies for carbon dioxide emissions, to cover its $6.5 billion shortfall by providing $1 billion per year.

It’s unclear whether the full, Los Angeles-to-San Francisco line will be able to offer costs and travel times that are competitive with air travel,  .  .  .

https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/first-section-ca-bullet-train-connect-two-small-cities



$290 million per mile.  $55k per foot of track. Your tax dollars at work.

[MeganC]

The 2000 mile transcontinental railroad was built in four years. Using hand tools.

[DefiantMassRINO]

Let Cali pay for it.  If it's an economical investment, it should be able to pay for itself and could be funded by Cali issuing state bonds.

Cali is prone to earthquakes, wildfires, mudslides, and civil unrest.

[MeganC]

Let Cali pay for it.  If it's an economical investment, it should be able to pay for itself and could be funded by Cali issuing state bonds.

Agreed.

Cali is prone to earthquakes, wildfires, mudslides, and civil unrest.

You forgot to mention the weather which today's forecast says is sunshine with a 15% chance of gunshot wounds. 

[Free Vulcan]

In reality it only cost around $50=100M, the rest went down a Rat hole.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

The 2000 mile transcontinental railroad was built in four years. Using hand tools.

Sigh... not just that, the Chinese are able to do it faster and cheaper.  What can you do?

[IsailedawayfromFR]

No one will travel by train between those two towns.

People there travel by car, not train.

The bullet train is purposed to only handle city folks between the Bay area and LA that prefer trains to cars, and an occasional tourist.

Tickets must be priced at many thousands up to a million $ apiece to any have a chance to be revenue producing