High-speed rail

While the state withheld $3.9 billion from schools, it spent $1.3 billion on pork projects and $600,000 on train consultants' questionable luxury travel bills, reports say.

California’s High-Speed Rail Authority paid nearly $600,000 in unallowable travel reimbursements to outside consultants while keeping a poor record to justify them, a state investigation found.

An overhaul of California's carbon auction program is forcing lawmakers to reduce spending and decide whether high-speed rail deserves $1 billion a year.

The bullet train project launched in 2008 with promises of completion by 2020. Now it's mostly concrete supports. No tracks or train.

Revenues from the state's carbon emissions auction will be used for high speed rail, wildfire suppression and legislators' discretionary spending.

In a new report for the Legislature, the California High-Speed Rail Authority's top executive seems to be betting that a blunt conversation and different funding strategy could convince lawmakers to back a new direction for the project.

The new chief executive for California's high-speed rail project has a plan to accelerate construction and attract private investment. It'll require a stronger commitment from the state Capitol.

President Donald Trump denounced California's bullet train and said his administration would investigate how federal dollars have been spent. The remarks followed a critical inspector general report casting doubt on the project's timeline.

California's failure to build important infrastructure is at the heart of our overreliance on cars. It was once estimated that 50% of the land in American cities is devoted to vehicular infrastructure, and nearly one-quarter is dedicated to parking lots. The solution is right under our noses. 

If you listen to California’s political class, the high-speed rail project sounds like a textbook boondoggle. Yet in communities across California’s farm belt, the discourse is different. High-speed rail isn't "a train to nowhere" – it's a symbol of transformation.