Residents and other interested parties look over plans and renderings that show what’s envisioned for the future Fresno Station of California’s High-Speed Rail project during an informational open house by the High-Speed Rail Authority at the Hilton DoubleTree in downtown Fresno on Wednesday, May 1, 2024.
CRAIG KOHLRUSS
Fresno Bee file
The California High-Speed Rail Authority’s latest business plan, approved by the agency at the beginning of the month, suggests building a “temporary” Bakersfield station that would be several miles northwest of downtown.
But why the change? And when exactly will the rail authority start building the promised downtown Bakersfield station?
Like with many other changes to the planned train, rail authority CEO Ian Choudri says the problem is money.
“It’s never about changing anything just because we want to,” he told The Fresno Bee on Wednesday. “The funding is the constraint.”
Since become rail authority CEO in 2024, Choudri has proposed cost-cutting and time-saving strategies that he says will make it possible for the agency to build a Merced-to-Bakersfield segment by 2033 for around $35.7 billion on the low end.
The California Legislature last year approved $1 billion per year through 2045 for the project, bringing its available money up to about $39.3 billion over the next two decades. For that to cover the cost of the Central Valley segment, the rail authority says it needs state and local lawmakers to work with the ideas Choudri has proposed.
Choudri is working with private investors who may want to use their own money to build train routes outside the Central Valley, such as Madera-to-Gilroy or Bakersfield-to-Palmdale. He also says he wants the Legislature to dedicate more state money to the project.
But for now, a southern terminus that does not reach downtown Bakersfield is “what we can build,” Choudri said.
“The basic fundamental question to be answered is: What do we have today as resources to build?” he said. “We get more, which I hope the Legislature continues to work with us, we continue to build more.”
California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Ian Choudri stands below the archway of the nearly completed San Joaquin River viaduct section of the rail system near Highway 99 between Fresno County and Madera County on Wednesday, June 17, 2026. Cables, tracks and other infrastructure are soon to come, say authorities. CRAIG KOHLRUSS ckohlruss@fresnobee.com Where would HSRA’s temporary Bakersfield station be built?
The temporary Bakersfield station would be built north of 7th Standard Road along the train’s alignment, according to a technical supporting document for the rail authority’s 2026 business plan. That location is at least 5 miles northwest of the planned site of the permanent station near F Street and Golden State Avenue downtown.
The document touts the temporary location’s proximity to Bakersfield’s Meadow Field Airport, Highway 99 and the City of Shafter.
It also says the location will serve as the train system’s southern end until the rail extends through Bakersfield to the site of the permanent downtown station “as part of Phase I San Francisco to Anaheim.”
“I would say that you give us the money tomorrow, we’ll build it to downtown Bakersfield,” Choudri said. “There’s no reason for us to wait.”
He added that the rail authority has discussed a temporary northern Bakersfield station in past years.
Related Stories from Fresno Bee
The Fresno Bee
Erik is a graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism, where he helped launch an effort to better meet the news needs of Spanish-speaking immigrants. Before that, he served as editor-in-chief of his community college student newspaper, Riverside City College Viewpoints, where he covered the impacts of the Salton Sea’s decline on its adjacent farm worker communities in the Southern California desert.