USA: The Federal Railroad Administration has issued a report outlining the problems facing California’s high speed rail programme, warning that it sees ‘no viable path forward’ for the project.
The FRA Compliance Report issued on June 5 was commissioned by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in February. FRA was asked to determine whether the federal government should go ahead with the provision of around $4bn of previously agreed funding for the construction of the Merced – Bakersfield initial phase of the planned San Francisco – Los Angeles corridor.
The US Department of Transportation issued a statement on June 5 saying that ‘under the Secretary’s direction, FRA conducted a detailed review of California High Speed Rail Authority’s compliance with federal grant agreements related to over $4bn in funding. As part of its investigation, the FRA has contacted state oversight entities, visited construction sites, conducted a risk analysis, met with CHSRA officials, and reviewed several thousand documents.’
The 310-page report contains nine key findings, USDOT said. These are:
- CHSRA has executed numerous change orders and will likely have many more change orders in the near future to account for contractor expenses as a result of project delays;
- CHSRA has already missed its deadline for finalising its rolling stock procurement;
- The authority has at least a $7bn funding gap to complete the Early Operating Section of the railway now being built in the Central Valley, with no credible plan to secure additional funds;
- It does not have a viable path to complete the EOS by 2033 per its commitment under the federal grants in question;
- It relies on volatile non-federal funding sources, which present significant project risk;
- CHSRA lacks time and money to electrify the EOS by 2033;
- Its budget contingency is inadequate to cover anticipated contractor delay claims;
- The authority has overrepresented its ridership projections for the EOS substantially;
- CHSRA lacks the capacity to deliver the EOS by 2033.
In his letter, acting FRA Administrator Drew Feely said ‘FRA must act as a responsible steward of federal funds. To that end, FRA cannot continue to commit taxpayer dollars to CHSRA’s Sisyphean endeavour, which now stands as a fraction of what was promised back in 2008.’
At the time the report was commissioned, CHSRA Chief Executive Ian Choudri defended the programme, insisting that ‘with multiple independent federal and state audits completed, every dollar is accounted for, and we stand by the progress and impact of this project’.
However, upon publication of the compliance report, Duffy asserted that FRA’s work had exposed ‘a cold, hard truth: CHSRA has no viable path to complete this project on time or on budget. CHSRA is on notice — If they can’t deliver on their end of the deal, it could soon be time for these funds to flow to other projects that can achieve President Trump’s vision of building great, big, beautiful things again. Our country deserves high speed rail that makes us proud, not boondoogle trains to nowhere.’
FRA has given CHSRA 37 days to respond to its report, at which point work to withdraw the federal funding could begin, USDOT said.
