{"id":348694,"date":"2026-06-05T22:49:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T22:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/348694\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T22:49:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T22:49:18","slug":"high-speed-rail-project-criticized-again-after-3-5b-contract-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/348694\/","title":{"rendered":"High-speed rail project criticized again after $3.5B contract | California"},"content":{"rendered":"

(The Center Square) \u2013 After a $3.5 billion contract was awarded for track and electrical work on California\u2019s high-speed rail, critics are calling the entire project problematic because of a lack of transparency.<\/p>\n

It’s the latest criticism of a delayed project that is costing taxpayers more than $100 billion in additional costs.<\/p>\n

The firm Kiewit, Stacy Witbeck and Herzog won the contract approved at Tuesday’s High-Speed Rail Authority meeting. That firm won out over one other bidder, which was ruled out because that firm didn\u2019t meet all the requirements set out by the state agency.<\/p>\n

No one from Kiewit, Stacy Witbeck and Herzog responded to The Center Square’s request for comment on Friday.<\/p>\n

According to a presentation from the meeting<\/a> earlier this week, $118.1 million will pay for design, acquiring materials and doing pre-construction work, among other facets of the project. Roughly $260 million will pay for engineering work, laying track and construction \u2013 totaling about $378.9 million to start laying down tracks.<\/p>\n

Other facets covered by the contract include an overhead contact system and traction power, train control and communications systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bottom line is, I think we should pull the plug on this whole thing,\u201d state Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, told The Center Square on Friday afternoon. \u201cThe fact is that they\u2019re moving forward without a realistic plan. Even the inspector general said the plan, moving forward, is unrealistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strickland said he is concerned the high-speed rail doesn\u2019t have the money on hand to follow through on construction and be built the way it was proposed almost 20 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have major cash flow issues and major funding issues,\u201d Strickland said. \u201cThe fact that they\u2019re willing to move forward and waste billions of dollars on a project that I believe will never be built as proposed for the people of California, I think, is irresponsible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some board members had concerns this week about designating so much money to paying for various phases of the continued construction of high-speed rail, especially with the $3.5 billion going to just one company. However, High-Speed Rail Authority staff said during the meeting that walking away from working with a contractor was \u201cnot desirable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re invested and our partners are invested in getting this project right,\u201d Ed Fenn, chief of construction at the High-Speed Rail Authority, said during the meeting. \u201cWe have a lot of institutional knowledge as far as what costs and schedules should be, and we have experts to help us ensure that we have competitive pricing going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

An official from The High-Speed Rail Authority said on Friday via email that while the 119-mile segment that runs through the Central Valley will be electrified and ready to test after work is complete, it will start operations at a later date.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will not be operational yet,\u201d Micah Flores, public relations manager for the California High-Speed Rail Authority, told The Center Square. \u201cCertification, train-set testing and other pre\u2011revenue activities still need to occur. This segment is part of the 171-mile operating line between Merced and Bakersfield, which is planned to begin passenger service in 2033.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, the high-speed rail project is estimated to cost $126.2 billion, much more than the $9.95 billion bond that California voters approved in 2008, according to previous reporting<\/a> by The Center Square. The complete high-speed rail was supposed to be finished in 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(The Center Square) \u2013 After a $3.5 billion contract was awarded for track and electrical work on California\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,4017,26969],"class_list":["post-348694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-contract","tag-high-speed-rail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348694","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=348694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}