House committee launches new investigation into California high-speed rail project

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) yesterday announced the committee will investigate federal funding provided to the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) and whether it knowingly misrepresented ridership projections and financial viability of the rail system when it applied for federal and state funds.

In a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Comer requested a staff-level briefing, documents and communications related to California’s high-speed rail project, according to a press release issued by Comer's office.

"The massive cost overruns and lack of progress warrant a reassessment of whether CHSRA acted with transparency and complied with the law,” Comer wrote. 

In 2008, Californians approved $9.95 billion of state bond funding to build an 800-mile high-speed rail network that would connect Los Angeles, San Francisco and the Central Valley to coastal cities. Initially, the project touted a completion date of 2020 and a cost of $33 billion.

Since then, the project has faced cost overruns and delays. The CHSRA is now focused on constructing the 171-mile segment between Merced and Bakersfield in the state's Central Valley as the rail line's initial phase. Estimates have put the cost for that phase at $35 billion or more.

President Donald Trump, a Republican, has long opposed the project, calling it a "boondoggle." After the administration announced in July it was revoking $4 billion in unspent federal funding awarded under President Biden's administration, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said the project would move forward anyway. 

The state has since sued the Trump administration over what Newsom says is a "politically motivated" termination of federal high-speed rail funds.