Gavin Newsom appears to be trying to keep crucial aspects of California’s high-speed rail project under wraps, with current costs soaring to around $215 million per mile for taxpayers.
Documents received by the California Post reveal details about 58 construction projects completed in the last eight years along the 171-mile stretch from Merced to Bakersfield.
Representative Alexandra Macedo, from the Central Valley, compared an incomplete concrete structure to “Stonehenge” and expressed her constituents’ anger over the perceived waste.
“What do we have to show for that $15 billion? Just some flashy videos and graphics to make us believe this is still feasible,” she remarked.
Initially, this high-speed rail project was expected to cost $33 billion, linking Los Angeles to San Francisco and aiming for full service in the 2020s, following voter approval in November 2008.
However, those early projections have dramatically changed as expenses have surged. The latest estimates suggest that the Central Valley Line might be opened in 2032, at a revised cost of $36.7 billion.
Newsom has already set aside an additional $21 billion for this smaller segment.
With a combined population of about 500,000 in the cities of Merced and Bakersfield, projections indicate that providing high-speed rail service could cost approximately $22,000 per person.
Other planned stops in the area include Fresno and Madera.
Overall estimates for connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles hover around $135 billion, yet critics argue that completing the entire route seems increasingly improbable.
This shift in projections has led some Democratic lawmakers to advocate for legislation that would limit public access to high-speed rail audit records. Critics say this move is an attempt to conceal the true scale of financial mismanagement.
Rep. Kevin Kiley, who has long been skeptical of the project, stated, “Just as we are starting to uncover what has happened with this funding, they are taking steps to suppress vital records.”
State Transportation Commission Chair Lori Wilson proposed Assembly Bill 1608, which would permit the inspector general of railroad projects to withhold reports detailing vulnerabilities that could be exploited to harm state interests.
The Newsom administration has proposed a similar bill through a different legislative channel.
Macedo criticized this initiative as a blatant attempt to silence dissenting voices. “We deserve to know where our taxpayer money is going,” she said. “Now, the California Legislature seems to be saying, ‘Let’s hide even more from those paying the bills.’
She added, “This is especially disrespectful to the Central Valley, where we have urgent needs for safe roads and clean drinking water.”
Recently, Newsom visited the Central Valley to celebrate what his office describes as the start of the rail’s track-laying phase.
“What you’re seeing is real tracks, real progress,” he stated while posing next to a freight train.
Kiley, who has previously suggested an FBI inquiry into the project, dismissed this milestone as lacking substance, labeling it “the worst public infrastructure failure in American history.”
A report from the U.S. Department of Transportation last year indicated no feasible way forward for the venture, leading to former President Donald Trump withdrawing $2 billion in federal support.
California officials still assert they can secure private funding to compensate for the lost federal dollars.
A spokesperson for the federal Department of Transportation remarked that Californians “deserve to see where their money is going,” adding, “If 18 years and billions spent tell us anything, it’s that no one should expect Gavin Newsom’s train to materialize anytime soon.”
