BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom and California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Ian Choudri joined local officials and workers just outside of Bakersfield on Monday, Jan. 6, to mark the start of track laying on a 22-mile stretch of the state high-speed project.
The event — which included officials driving spikes into a ceremonial section of track — also marked substantial completion of the southernmost 22-mile section of the project’s original construction.
“No state in America is closer to launching high speed rail than California,” Newsom said in a press release. “… We’re moving into the track-laying phase, completing structures for key segments, and laying the groundwork for a high-speed rail network.”
The event also noted other progress in 2024, including completion of environmental reviews for the full 463-mile Los Angeles-Bay Area route, new federal funding, and trainset selection in progress.
Choudri also noted work to ensure interoperability with Brightline West and the proposed High Desert Corridor — which would connect the California high-speed route with Brightline West between Palmdale and Victorville, Calif.
“We’re committed to working collaboratively,” Choudri said, “and ultimately developing a modern, interstate high-speed rail network that will not only boost ridership in the Southwest part of the country but bring to the forefront the possibility of delivering high-speed rail benefits sooner.”
The 22-mile segment highlighted during Monday’s ceremony extends from Poplar Avenue in Wasco, Calif., to approximately 1 mile south of the Kern/Tulare county line. Major construction projects including overpasses, underpasses, and viaducts on that segment are now complete.
“Finally, we’re at the point where we’re going to start laying down this track in the next couple of years,” Newsom said, according to a Fresno Bee report. He also referenced the opposition the project faces at the federal level from President-elect Donald Trump, his advisor Elon Musk, and others in the Republican party.
“No one’s naïve about the headwinds that are coming our way, but we withstood those a few years back,” Newsom said, “and we were able to continue to move forward. And I have all the confidence in the world that we will move forward.” He also acknowledged the issues that have plagued the project saying there is “a lot of humility about the past” but that those involved are also “very prideful that we are finally here announcing this railhead project, moving forward to lay track.”
The Bee reports that the four segments in the initial construction package were projected to have been finished by August 2019 at a total cost of about $2.5 billion. Completion is now expected in late 2026, with a total cost estimate at more than $8.1 billion.
