California Missed Its Own Train Deadlines Before $4B Rail Cut

California's High-Speed Rail Authority repeatedly missed deadlines to purchase its trains, a failure federal officials cited when they pulled $4 billion from the project a year ago, according to a CBS California investigation.

More than a year and a half after the original deadline, the authority still cannot say when it expects to award the contract. The state says the date remains "TBD."

Grant documents signed during the Biden administration required the authority to execute a trainset contract by Dec. 31, 2024. California missed that deadline. In July 2025, the Trump administration moved to terminate $4 billion in federal funding, citing the state's failure to lay any track after spending $15 billion over 16 years. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said "federal dollars are not a blank check — they come with a promise to deliver results."

Federal officials concluded there was "no viable path" to finishing the segment on time, and said California had promised to connect "major metropolitan cities" but could now deliver a reduced system that "may connect two random endpoints."

Gov. Gavin Newsom called the withdrawal a "political stunt to punish California," and Attorney General Rob Bonta sued to stop what he called a "politically motivated attack." In sworn filings, the authority assured a federal judge it would execute a train contract by Dec. 1, 2025, and that doing so would keep the project on schedule. It missed that deadline too, canceling the board meeting where the contract was expected to be approved. The state dismissed its case two days before Christmas, without a press release or explanation.

"It was appropriate for us to pull the lawsuit," Bonta later told CBS California Investigates, declining to elaborate. The authority has said it concluded the administration "was not a reliable partner."

Approved by voters in 2008, the project was designed to link San Francisco and Los Angeles in under three hours at up to 220 mph. The current plan covers a 171-mile stretch between Merced and Bakersfield, with service projected to begin in 2033.

In his final State of the State address, Newsom said California is "finally laying the tracks of the nation's first high-speed rail system." Inspector General Ben Belnap said what exists is a railyard: "High-speed rail track, as it's defined, has not been laid yet." In June 2026, the authority approved a team to build the track and said it aims to begin laying it by year's end.