Issue Tool Kit: Newsom’s Bullet Train Boondoggle

Billions spent. No trains running. No finish line in sight. California’s high-speed rail isn’t innovation — it’s someone’s political vanity on taxpayer life support.

How Did We Get Here?

In 2008, voters were sold a glossy vision: bullet trains flying between Los Angeles and San Francisco in under three hours. Total cost? $33 billion. Completion date? 2020. Today, that promise is buried beneath half-built bridges in farm fields, a budget now well past $100 billion, and not a single passenger ever stepping on board.

And no politician is more tied to this failure than California Governor Gavin Newsom. He campaigned for it, inherited it, promised to scale it back — and then quietly kept it alive. He talks about fiscal discipline and climate leadership while continuing to fund a train that doesn’t reach Los Angeles or San Francisco and still has no credible plan to do either.

This wasn’t a good idea that fell apart later. It was flawed from the start — and instead of ending it, Sacramento keeps funding it rather than admitting it’s a mistake.

1. The Price Has Exploded — And Still Isn’t Final

Voters approved a $33 billion project. Today, the cost has soared past $100 billion — and even that isn’t the final number. Independent projections put it closer to $120–$130 billion, and that still doesn’t get a single train into Los Angeles or San Francisco. There is no budget ceiling. There is no fixed number. Anywhere else, people would already be calling this what it is — a financial five-alarm fire.

2. The Funding Model Is a House of Cards

This project isn’t funded — it’s floated. The state relies on a shaky mix of cap-and-trade revenue, borrowed bond money, and the hope of future federal grants to keep construction going. There is nowhere near enough funding to complete even the so-called “starter line,” and certainly not enough to connect the major cities voters were promised. That isn’t planning — it’s rolling the dice with taxpayer money.

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