“No Viable Path Forward” for California’s Zombie Bullet Train

California’s troubled high speed rail project may soon lose its federal funding.

The project was sold to California voters in 2008 with a claimed total price tag of $33 billion. The politicians who championed it promised it would connect an 800-mile route between Los Angeles and San Francisco with bullet trains traveling up to 220 miles per hour.

Over the last 16 years, the project has lurched along like a zombie on life support. California’s High Speed Rail Authority (CHRSA) shortened the length of the line to just 119 miles, initially aimed at connecting the cities of Merced and Bakersfield.

While fiscally responsible leaders would have pulled the plug on the often-delayed boondoggle long ago, California’s top politicians kept doubling down on it. They used their influence to pour more and more state and federal taxpayer dollars into it. Consequently, the project’s cost has blown up to an estimated $128 billion. It is also years or decades away from starting service, blowing through deadline after deadline. Assuming it ever would start service.

Zombie Bullet Train Going Nowhere

The U.S. Department of Transportation, which has given $7 billion to the project over its history, thinks it has “no viable path forward.” The Los Angeles Times‘ Colleen Shalby reports:

In a 310-page compliance review released Wednesday, the Department of Transportation cited budget shortfalls, missed deadlines and a misleading projected ridership to connect San Francisco to Los Angeles via fast rail. The review targets federal grants for construction in the Central Valley. Those funds could be pulled within the next 37 days following the high-speed rail authority’s response.

“CHSRA relied on the false hope of an unending spigot of Federal taxpayer dollars,” the Federal Railroad Administration’s acting administrator Drew Feeley wrote. “In essence, CHSRA has conned the taxpayer out of its $4 billion investment, with no viable plan to deliver even that partial segment on time.”

Despite having 16 years to figure it out, California’s state government planners are still billions short of the money they claim they will need to finish the job. They have no idea where it will come from.

The End of the Line?

For its part, the U.S. Department of Transportation has seen enough. The $4 billion figure it is looking to claw back after a 37-day review is the portion of federal government funds given to California that has not yet been spent. California’s taxpayers are not being asked to give back the other $3 billion the state spent on the project.

California’s zombie bullet train project is the largest infrastructure project in the U.S. Pulling back these funds provides an immediate benefit to U.S. taxpayers because it will enable other, more viable transportation projects to go forward.

It’s time for California’s politicians to get on board with projects that have a real chance for success.