California high-speed rail cash crisis threatens new cutbacks

California's high-speed rail project could run out of money by December 2027, Inspector General Benjamin Belnap says, unless state leaders find new funding or a loan next year. The current plan already narrowed from a statewide Los Angeles-to-San Francisco system to a Bakersfield-to-Merced segment estimated to cost up to $36 billion, and Belnap warns even that could shrink further to a stretch between Madera and Poplar Avenue in rural Kern County.

Belnap said he flagged the fiscal cliff to lawmakers over the summer, but the legislature adjourned in September without acting. A key financing tool, language letting the authority borrow against future cap-and-invest revenue, won't be available again until July 2027, well after the projected shortfall hits.

Belnap's office has also found that consultants charged taxpayers for unnecessary or improperly approved travel. The rail authority told Newsweek it will tighten internal controls and recover improper costs, while Belnap said his own office is stretched thin, with just six staff to investigate a project this size.

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