{"id":290698,"date":"2026-04-29T01:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T01:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/290698\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T01:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T01:59:09","slug":"lao-says-high-speed-rail-plan-lacks-transparency-on-station-moves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/290698\/","title":{"rendered":"LAO says high-speed rail plan lacks transparency on station moves"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new analytical report<\/a> prepared for state lawmakers has raised concerns that the California High-Speed Rail<\/a> Authority omitted details about its intent to relocate its future Central Valley stations from the draft of its latest business plan<\/a>, a document meant to help legislators make decisions about the project.<\/p>\n

The draft plan, released in late February, spells out the rail authority\u2019s path to the completion and operation of its initial 171-mile Merced-to-Bakersfield segment by 2033 with a potential cost of $34.76 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the report released Monday by the Legislative Analyst\u2019s Office (LAO) says the rail authority\u2019s plan \u201clacks transparency\u201d and is less useful to lawmakers because it\u2019s based on assumptions that the downtown Merced and Bakersfield station locations will change \u2014 though it doesn\u2019t explicitly state those proposed changes or specify the costs they would carry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think that\u2019s a very substantive change to the program and the plan, and it should be called out so that folks really understand what\u2019s happening,\u201d Helen Kerstein, the LAO\u2019s principal fiscal and policy analyst, told state senators during a transportation hearing<\/a> Monday.<\/p>\n

The rail authority has said the schedule and cost estimates it\u2019s aiming for assume changes that will require cooperation from the state and local authorities. Mark Tollefson, the agency\u2019s chief of staff, said during the hearing that the decision to change the location of the Bakersfield and Merced stations has technically not been made and is in the discussion still stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been transparent in those communications with those communities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The rail authority in January proposed<\/a> changing the planned location of its Merced station from a downtown space to one several miles south on Highway 99 and just outside city limits. The agency proposed a new \u201cBakersfield interim station\u201d to the city\u2019s north in a less-publicized report<\/a> following the release of its draft business plan. Both moves are expected to cut costs for the Merced-to-Bakersfield segment.<\/p>\n

Still, Kerstein said she believes there could be a potential funding gap for the Merced-to-Bakersfield segment and criticized the rail authority for not including the cost of borrowing money against its state funding \u2014 which is doled out on annual basis \u2014 in its estimated cost for the Central Valley route.<\/p>\n

Tollefson acknowledged that the rail authority will have to borrow, but he added that the agency is confident it has \u201ca viable plan\u201d to complete the segment on time and with the money it has available.<\/p>\n

\"A A rendering shows a train would look like traveling on high-speed rail tracks. COURTESY OF CA HIGH-SPEED RAIL AUTHORITY Are CA High-Speed Rail\u2019s proposed changes consistent with state law?<\/p>\n

Kerstein said the new proposed location for the Merced station is not in compliance with SB 198, a 2022 state<\/a> law that established high-speed rail\u2019s Central Valley focus and included specific descriptions of what the system should be.<\/p>\n

The law defines the Merced-to-Bakersfield segment as \u201ca 171-mile electrified dual-track segment that is usable for high-speed rail service in the Central Valley from Merced to Bakersfield, with a new combined station in downtown Merced, and connections to the Amtrak San Joaquins and the Altamont Corridor Express.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerstein said the station relocations would cut miles from the route. The rail authority also now intends to make 144 miles of the system single-tracked, she said.<\/p>\n

Tollefson said the single-track plan is part of the agency\u2019s strategy to build only what it needs until ridership demand grows.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as SB 198 is concerned, our intent is to still build out an electrified double-tracked system,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are just sequencing it in a way that we believe makes the most sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rail Authority CEO Ian Choudri told The Fresno Bee last fall that he plans to seek changes to SB 198. Thus far, the only legislation introduced this year that would amend the law is focused on removing the $500 million spending cap it imposes on work outside the Central Valley.<\/p>\n

\"High-Speed High-Speed Rail CEO Ian Choudri speaks during a meeting hosted by the Maddy Institute in front of an audience at the Kodiak Club at Chukchansi Park in Fresno on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. CRAIG KOHLRUSS CA Democrat senators split in reaction to LAO\u2019s high-speed rail criticism<\/p>\n

Sen. Catherine Blakespeare, D-Encinitas, lambasted the rail authority in her comments about its draft business plan, which she said \u201cdefinitely appears deceptive\u201d because it did not include station relocation details.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find myself feeling really angry about that,\u201d Blakespear, who has been a supporter of the project, told Tollefson. \u201cYou should try to keep your champions.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the committee\u2019s chair, Sen. David Cortese, D-San Jose, defended the business plan and the rail authority.<\/p>\n

He pointed out that the agency has never said it is moving forward on station relocations without legislative approval. Cortese also questioned how the agency could include cost estimates attached to the relocations if those moves have not been decided yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CEO was here and said that those proposed station relocations are not under contract yet,\u201d Cortese said. \u201cHe came here evidently to be transparent.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new analytical report prepared for state lawmakers has raised concerns that the California High-Speed Rail Authority omitted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-290698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}