{"id":293852,"date":"2026-04-30T22:00:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T22:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/293852\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T22:00:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T22:00:23","slug":"ca-high-speed-rail-officials-may-give-ceo-more-spending-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/293852\/","title":{"rendered":"CA high-speed rail officials may give CEO more spending power"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an attempt to keep California\u2019s bullet train project on track, several California High-Speed Rail Authority<\/a> board members are questioning whether to cede more authority over expensive contracts to CEO Ian Choudri.<\/p>\n

The debate comes as the rail authority attempts to secure materials worth hundreds of millions of dollars from various manufacturers that the agency needs to start track construction<\/a> in the Central Valley by the end of the year. Some board members say reviews are needed for responsible spending of taxpayer dollars, but others want to consider increasing Choudri\u2019s contracting authority to ensure the project doesn\u2019t fall further behind schedule.<\/p>\n

Choudri has the authority to execute new contracts<\/a> of up to $25 million without board review. Board member Anthony Williams said he wants to discuss raising the cap on Choudri\u2019s contract execution power to $100 million \u2014 equal to the amount he is allowed to authorize for change orders<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would be curious to understand why they shouldn\u2019t be the same,\u201d Williams said to Choudri. \u201cIt allows you to focus on what you should focus on, and for us to focus on what we should focus on.\u201d<\/p>\n

If track installation begins this year, it would come 18 years after California voters first approved $9.95 billion in bonds<\/a> for a Los Angeles-to-San Francisco system initially projected to cost $45 billion. Years of court disputes, sluggish land acquisitions and other problems have led to almost $15 billion in spending and public doubts that the rail authority can deliver the project\u2019s original vision.<\/p>\n

The rail authority quickly completed a 150-acre railhead facility<\/a> near Wasco that is ready to receive and send out materials for track construction. But the agency must finalize deals with the companies that want to supply those materials and a company that wants to begin installing them.<\/p>\n

\"Gov. Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at the California High-Speed Rail\u2019s railhead facility in Kern County on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. GOVERNOR\u2019S PRESS OFFICE Board member says review delayed CA high-speed rail work for weeks<\/p>\n

The high-speed rail board on Wednesday considered awarding a $56.9 million contract for cable troughs, a material needed for track construction.<\/p>\n

The board voted unanimously to approve the contract, but some members questioned why the contract needed their approval in the first place.<\/p>\n

The rail authority last year decided to begin seeking bids from manufacturers for six types of rail materials, with a total cost not to exceed $507.1 million, necessary for track construction on the 119 miles between Madera and the Shafter area. The board authorized Choudri in that decision to execute the individual deals for those materials \u2014 he\u2019s already contracted for rail and concrete ties this year \u2014 even if they exceed $25 million.<\/p>\n

The board added cable troughs to the list last month and began seeking bids, but its resolution for that material required the board to review and approve the final contract Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve delayed this five weeks,\u201d said board member Emily Cohen. \u201cWe are risking delaying this for a reason that I think is not good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Answering Cohen\u2019s questions, agency CFO Jamey Matalka said bringing an item to the board for approval can take months. Each one has to go through various approvals before it reaches the board, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not where this board should be,\u201d Cohen continued after Matalka. \u201cI respect and appreciate the board\u2019s role in oversight, but we have to let this high-speed rail team get to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"California California High Speed Rail CEO Ian Choudri is interviewed by the California McClatchy Editorial Board Wednesday, July 30, 2025 in Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com Spending taxpayer money \u2018merits oversight,\u2019 says Fresno-area board member<\/p>\n

Henry Perea, a rail authority board member from Fresno, said board reviews are necessary and don\u2019t cause many delays \u201cif everybody\u2019s doing their job, including us.\u201d Perea has indicated he\u2019d like to see more contracts and change orders come to the board for review before they\u2019re executed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to spending the money of the taxpayers, I think it absolutely merits oversight by this board to ensure that process was followed, the right person was picked,\u201d Perea said during Wednesday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n

He added that state lawmakers have told him to \u201cbe very judicious of the money that we give you and how you spend it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perea said he has confidence in Choudri, but added that the agency allowed financial problems it shouldn\u2019t have prior to the CEO\u2019s arrival \u201cbecause of lack of oversight from this board.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMoving forward, the CEO and his staff need to be held accountable to the vision that he\u2019s laid out for us, that we\u2019ve supported and we\u2019re funding,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Board Chair Tom Richards said he would prepare a future discussion on the matter.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Erik Galicia<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

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\u2019s decline on its adjacent farm worker communities in the Southern California desert. Erik\u2019s work is supported through the California Local News Fellowship program.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In an attempt to keep California\u2019s bullet train project on track, several California High-Speed Rail Authority board members…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-293852","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\/293852","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=293852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}