Today the vision of shuttling passengers between Los Angeles and San Francisco in less than three hours is a distant dream. It’s the latest setback for the project, originally expected to cost $33 billion and be completed last year. They’re hoping to reach an agreement when the Legislature returns for session in January. Gavin Newsom included it in his state budget, but negotiations between his administration and the Legislature have stalled. The California High-Speed Rail Authority said it needs that money to continue construction beyond next summer. That’s a conversation Democrats in the state Assembly want to have amid negotiations over whether to release about $4 billion in bond money for the project. SACRAMENTO - A new and fundamental debate has emerged in the battle over California’s high-speed rail project that could again significantly downgrade the troubled effort: Should the trains even be high speed when the system launches? In total, the Federal Railroad Administration said in November it was awarding $16.4bn to 25 projects along the north-east corridor (NEC).By KATHLEEN RONAYNE | The Associated Press Last month, the transportation department awarded $3.8bn to help build a new railway tunnel between New York City and New Jersey. Separately, a new passenger rail route between Raleigh, North Carolina, and Richmond, Virginia, is set to receive a $1bn grant, Senator Thom Tillis said Tuesday, adding it would better connect North Carolina to Washington.Ĭongress approved $66bn for the country’s rail infrastructure, as part of the 2021 $1tn infrastructure bill, with Amtrak receiving $22bn and $36bn allocated for competitive grants. Wes Edens, founder and chairman of Brightline, called the award “a historic moment that will serve as a foundation for a new industry, and a remarkable project that will serve as the blueprint for how we can repeat this model throughout the country”. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

For more information see our Privacy Policy. Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. Republicans in Congress want to bar the president from giving new awards to pay for California’s high-speed rail as the project has cost far more and taken far more time than officials initially promised.īrightline West estimates it will remove 3m cars from I-15 annually. The federal investment would allow the state to complete an initial 119-mile segment.Ĭalifornia lawmakers, including Nancy Pelosi, said the California high-speed rail authority would receive funding to support construction connecting Merced, Fresno and Bakersfield. The announcement comes after Gavin Newsom, the California governor, asked Joe Biden in October for a $3bn federal grant to support his state’s high-speed rail project connecting San Francisco and LA, which is estimated to cost $88bn to $128bn. A total of $8.2bn in rail awards are to be announced on Friday by the White House.

The company reportedly wants to price the cheapest one-way ticket at around $100, so that it is competitive with the cost of air travel.Ī formal announcement of the project funded by the $1tn 2021 infrastructure law is planned for Friday. The 218-mile (350km) “Brightline West” project is expected to have speeds of at least 186mph, resulting in a proposed trip time of 2 hours and 10 min. Unlike California’s rail effort, the Las Vegas project is not government run but rather a private-public partnership led by Brightline, a Florida-based company that runs a successful commuter line within that state. Rosen has pushed for the Las Vegas project, which had sought $3.75bn. “This historic high-speed rail project will be a gamechanger for Nevada’s tourism economy and transportation,” Jacky Rosen, a Democratic Nevada senator, said in a statement on Tuesday. The California high-speed rail authority program, which has long been stuck in limbo, expects to start initial service as early as 2030, and aims to ultimately move travelers from San Francisco to the Los Angeles basin at speeds above 200mph (322km/h) in under 3 hours. The Las Vegas to Los Angeles project aims to finish before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

California high speed rail map