For years now, California officials have talked a big game about connecting the state with a bullet train. The futuristic railway would connect San Francisco and Los Angeles, allowing Californians to travel quickly between the two major cities. With stops along the way to service places like Bakersfield and Merced, the train would help connect the Central Valley with California’s coastal metropolises. On top of that, the construction of the train would create thousands of jobs throughout the state, including for people in Fresno County. It’s no wonder why officials were so excited about the train.
This week, however, the Biden Administration said “not so fast.” In its last round of funding grants for similar projects, the Biden Administration conspicuously left out the bullet train. The California project will miss out on a $1.2 billion federal windfall as a result.
This news comes at a really unfortunate time for the project. In recent years, progress had finally begun on the project that California voters approved all the way back in 2008. Construction on the project in the Central Valley is already underway, causing road closures across Fresno County. With all of this visible progress, the rejection from the federal government hurts all the worse.
So, what’s next for the California bullet train?
California high speed rail officials have urged optimism for the project going forward. They have no plans to halt the current phase of construction, which aims to connect Bakersfield and Merced. The state still has the funding to work on around 130 miles of track for the rail, so it will continue that work. In the meantime, it will continue to seek federal and other sources of funding.
However, train officials will have to do more work convincing Californians that the train is still a good idea. Californians are understandably skeptical after years of delays and funding slip-ups. It seems to many that the bullet train may just go down as an expensive mistake. If officials can convince the people otherwise, they may get enough public support to actually complete the project.
