r/cahsr

Gilroy-Palmdale is still very much alive and almost certain to happen.

Let’s face it: There will never be enough political will or public interest to justify the monster costs of extending the high-speed rail into both downtowns. However, Gilroy-Palmdale will still be successful enough to be profitable for these key reasons:

1. Even though it doesn’t directly** **go to San Francisco or Los Angeles, it still goes into both metro areas, both of which already have adequate public transportation that will take you to both cities’ downtowns (San Francisco’s Caltrain and Los Angeles’s Metrolink)

2. The fact that it goes from one region of California to another (unlike the IOS) will make it much more attractive to riders, even some that currently fly from LA-SF.

I’m not sure we’ll ever see high-speed rail between Downtown Los Angeles and Downtown San Francisco, but we will definitely see it between the two metro areas at some point.

Bakersfield: 5 miles from downtown
Merced: 4 miles from downtown

This is a press release from the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s website regarding the recently completed Corcoran Highway grade separation, also known as the Waukena Avenue grade separation, in Kings County. This was published yesterday, Tuesday, August 11, 2026.

Project Title: The Trans-Eurasian & Hemispheric Heavy Transit Corridor (TEHHTC)
Strategic Vision: Unification and peace through global economic integration, anchoring cross-continental cooperation via heavy industrial infrastructure and shared logistics networks.
Project Scope: A continuous, high-speed, multi-modal rail and heavy-asphalt transit corridor engineered to bypass domestic political gridlock through private-public industrial backing and comprehensive national security integration.
Routing & Phasing:
Phase 1: Breaking ground in New Orleans, engineering high-pile viaducts through the challenging Louisiana basin, and punching straight north along the Mississippi River spine to Chicago to lock in the primary commercial and industrial hub of the continent.
Phase 2: Extending westward across the Great Plains and cutting through the mountain passes of the Rockies and Cascades straight to the Pacific Northwest.
Phase 3: International expansion linking Mexico from the south and Canada from the northern tier to tap into heavy resource corridors, pushing north through British Columbia, the Yukon, and Alaska to bridge the Bering Strait and tie North America directly into Eurasia, while expanding loops through the Middle East, Africa, and Australia.
Execution & Workforce: Powered by a diverse coalition of everyday people from all walks of life and backgrounds—including specialized heavy-rail car repair crews, structural steel ironworkers, heavy equipment operators, local community builders, and master tradespeople—who understand the physical stress points of heavy infrastructure and how to keep a massive project moving forward under brutal conditions.
Strategy: Aligning with early administrative infrastructure pushes to secure initial momentum, ensuring the physical reality of the grid outlasts political cycles and permanently re-engineers global trade routes to foster economic interdependency and lasting peace.

Japan:
Sogō decides → Shima engineers → JNR builds

Spain:
González commits → national railway/infrastructure institutions execute

France:
Central government + SNCF decide → SNCF engineers and executes

California:
Voters authorize → legislature funds partially → governor appoints board → board governs → CEO manages → legislature/federal government periodically fund → multiple agencies approve → local governments participate → contractors execute → project gets re-scoped and partially funded again

A Project Manager would say this project suffers from
governance, scope definition, stakeholder management, risk management, contracting, cost control, and schedule management issues.

Getting the funds to have even just the IOS operational by 2033 seems very uncertain. From the buildHSR map it looks like construction has only really been done from Madera to Wasco. At these locations it parallels the tracks Gold Runner uses now. What's the viability of pivoting to an interim service. Getting HSR track between Madera/Wasco with barebones stations along the way and having Gold Runner use them instead of BNSF for that segment. They could put off catenary and trainsets until they manage to get more funding. Gold Runner won't be the true "high speed" but would see less delay and the time savings would probably allow them to add in another daily trip or two.

CALIFORNIA High-Speed Rail Authority 2026 BUSINESS PLAN

This is the baseline document that the Inspector General audited. The California High-Speed Rail Authority released the final version to line up with the state budget cycle. This document maps out the first true commercial revenue strategy for the network and outlines their preferred "reduced scope" design to bypass immediate cost spikes.

FRA Letter Enclosure to Mr. Ian Choudri 6.4.25

This report is an official federal notice stating that the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) has failed to meet its legal agreements and is in danger of losing over $4 billion in federal funding. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) issued this report after performing a deep review of how the state is handling its massive train project. The federal government gave California billions of taxpayer dollars to build a bullet train. In return, California made strict promises about how much the train would cost, where it would go, and when it would open. The FRA issued this report because they concluded California broke those promises.

Assembly Bill 377 (Chapter 81, Statutes of 2025).

This legal text illustrates why the state Inspector General is accusing the High-Speed Rail Authority of a major law violation.

Look closely at SECTION 1, Section 185033.8(a)(2), The law states that the Rail Authority must provide a strategy for the funding gap that includes:

• (A) An itemized list of anticipated funds by source.
• (B) A clear timeline showing exactly when the money must arrive to keep construction on schedule.
• (C) An estimate of the project delays that will happen if any funding source disappears.
• (D) A risk assessment scoring the likelihood that the money will actually show up.

The Core Violation

In its final business plan, the Rail Authority did not do any of these things for the full project. Instead, they designed a "reduced scope" plan to avoid showing a massive multi-billion-dollar deficit.

By pretending the full-scope deficit didn't exist instead of mapping it out item-by-item as written in lines (A) through (D), they directly broke this specific law.

Senate Bill 198

This statute mandates three distinct operational requirements that the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) is required by law to follow:

The text strictly requires that high-speed rail bond funds appropriated to the Authority must be spent exclusively on the Merced-to-Bakersfield segment. The law defines this as a 171-mile electrified dual-track segment usable for high-speed rail service in the Central Valley, with a combined station in downtown Merced.

The statute places a strict $500 million ceiling on using state high-speed rail funds for project construction outside of that Central Valley segment (such as early "bookend" work near Los Angeles or San Francisco).

To ensure public transparency, the text requires the Rail Authority to report its construction costs and package metrics in a side-by-side, comparable layout so that changes over time are immediately visible to legislative committees.

The Focus of the Inspector General's Violation Accusation

In his audit review of the final business plan, Inspector General Benjamin Belnap determined that the Rail Authority's preferred "reduced scope" design directly violates this statute. Rather than building the full 171-mile dual-track system with a downtown Merced station as required by SB 198, the Rail Authority altered its design to single-track portions and proposed shifting the station to the outskirts of Merced to hide its $7 billion funding hole.

August 19 Board Meeting Agenda

This public meeting will be held at 9:30 AM. The exact details from the schedule show a short, targeted lineup of topics.

This document is the official state meeting notice for the California High-Speed Rail Authority, the government agency in charge of planning, building, and running the bullet train network.

Ian Choudri, the Chief Executive Officer of the California High-Speed Rail Authority is updating the board on construction progress, delays, and federal funding updates in the Central Valley.

Steve Kawa, a board member will lead the discussion on the train’s multi-billion-dollar budget, rising construction costs, and financial shortfalls.

A 15-minute presentation covering the physical safety of the active construction zones, structures, and completed guideways where the train tracks will eventually go.

The board will go behind closed doors to talk about massive lawsuits, contract fights with builders, and land acquisition issues under California law.

The board will hold a Confidential Closed Session to discuss sensitive legal battles, contractor disputes, and property negotiations that cannot be shared publicly without hurting the state's legal position.

Under California's Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, state boards can meet privately under strict exceptions. This process handles government business very differently than the strict transparency rules found under Florida's famous Sunshine Law.

While both states generally require public agencies to hold open meetings, Florida's Sunshine Law is significantly stricter and more hostile to closed sessions than California's laws.

In California, a board can meet in a closed session with its lawyers to map out a legal defense or lawsuit strategy. In Florida, a public board cannot hold a private meeting to discuss settlement positions or legal arguments. Everything including the legal strategy must be broadcast to the public, giving the public insight into the government's exact legal playbook.

California allows the rail board to hide its maximum pricing limits for acquiring train right-of-way land. In Florida, real estate discussions by public entities must be done out in the open, meaning property owners can easily see the absolute maximum dollar amount the state is willing to pay.

Florida's Sunshine Law is backed by immediate criminal penalties. Public officials who knowingly discuss government business in private, even via text message or over a casual lunch can face misdemeanor criminal charges, removal from office, and heavy fines. California's laws generally rely on civil remedies, such as a judge overturning the illegal vote.

This is the official financial data page on the federal EMMA database that reveals that the Brightline West high-speed rail project (the planned train between Las Vegas and Southern California) is experiencing critical financial distress.

• A Massive $1.4 Billion Debt Load: This page tracks a specific funding piece worth $1,377,825,000 in "Senior Secured Revenue Bonds" issued to build the train tracks and infrastructure.
• An Exceptionally Expensive 12% Interest Rate: The project is locked into a 12% coupon rate until the year 2065. This unusually high interest rate means the company must generate massive amounts of cash just to pay off its daily borrowing costs.
• The Market Value Has Plummeted by Half: The interactive trading chart shows a severe collapse. Investors initially bought these bonds at 100% of their value, but the price has crashed down to the 50% range, proving that Wall Street is highly skeptical the project can pay its bills.
• Official Warnings of Funding Shortfalls: Under the disclosures tab, the project operator (DesertXpress Enterprises LLC) officially notified the market that its designated interest accounts are running empty and lack the cash needed to make upcoming payments.
• Emergency Legal Maneuvers to Buy Time: The most recent document, filed August 3, 2026, is a "Fourth Supplemental Indenture of Trust." In plain terms, this is a legal amendment showing that Brightline West had to beg its lenders for a temporary pause so it can look for alternative financing.
• A Long-Standing Pattern of Financial Trouble: The timeline shows this isn't a surprise. The database archives a formal "Notice of Default" dating back to December 4, 2025, showing the project has been on financial thin ice for months.

I wonder if CAHSR plans to buy the 12 Siemens trainsets BLW has ordered, or some of the 12.

Context clue 1: recent reporting in lucid stew’s newest video demonstrates that BLW is suffering from financial woes. BLW hasn’t even started construction yet, let alone guideway prep and land acquisition. But BLW has a purchase order agreement for 12 Siemens trains. 2 of them have been under construction since 2025.

Context clue 2: Recent news relieved that the Trump administration clawed back the $4 billion in federal funding because CAHSR did not order their trainsets by the deadline specified in the strings attached to federal funding. And CAHSR still has not ordered the trainsets for their project.

With track on the EOS scheduled to be completed July 2027, the next phase would be testing the trainsets on said tracks. It takes a couple of years from order placement to order delivery. This represents substantial risk for the 2033/2034 scheduled completion of the EOS.

But if CAHSR bought some of the 8, including 1 or 2 that are currently being manufactured, that could put the EOS back on track for the 2033/2034 deadline. This could also return money back to BLW which is need of funds in order to proceed with construction. The two entities already have a MOU to have compatible systems and run the same trainsets.

What do you think? Could this explain CAHSR odd decision of not ordering trainsets yet? Do the two projects (in conjunction with the high speed desert corridor project) sink or swim together?

It goes from sf to gilroy already, the infrastructure is already there in the bay area which almost eliminates the cost from building there.

We could stagger the trains with the local ones to include more long haul style trains with reclining seats and luggage space for the trips to la/SD. Plus we dont need to design and spend for new design of the train wr just change up the interior.

The stops could be like an express route from sf/Salesforce tower, SSF to get those bart transfers, San Jose, Fresno, Bakersfield then LA.

The training and education system for mechanics is already working and in the books so we can save a ton of money from building out a brand new one

It may not go as fast as a shinkansen but it seems way more cost effective to just expand a regional railway to a statewide one.