WSJ asks why California's bullet train still has no finished track
Eighteen years after voters approved it, the Journal's report traces a price tag that began at $33 billion and visits the Central Valley sites where building started.
The Wall Street Journal
Story of Why this story? One of The Wall Street Journal's most watched videos since yesterday, with 619,093 views.
Why California’s $33B Bullet Train Is Now a $231B Problem | WSJ
Things we can learn from the video
Press to jump
- 0:55Construction is concentrated on a 119-mile Central Valley segment between Merced and Bakersfield.
- 2:45Louis S. Thompson says planners should have started at the urban ends, not the Central Valley.
- 3:54Costs climb from a $33 billion estimate in 2008 toward projections as high as $231 billion.
- 6:07Land acquisition, eminent domain and utility relocation slow work along the route.
- 9:43The 'optimized plan' adds single-tracking and moves stations to city outskirts, drawing criticism.
- 12:40Polling shows 62 percent of Californians still support continuing the project.
California voters said yes in 2008. Proposition 1A promised trains running between San Francisco and Los Angeles at up to 220 mph, with the law requiring the trip to take less than three hours. In a new explainer, The Wall Street Journal reports that the project still lacks any finished track and faces an uncertain future. The video has drawn more than 600,000 views since yesterday.
The report starts where construction did: the 119-mile Central Valley segment between Merced and Bakersfield. Augie G. Blancas of the California High-Speed Rail Authority says, "we're building this system from the ground up." Louis S. Thompson, former chairman of the project's peer review group, says his group argued against starting in the valley at all: "they should start on the ends."
The numbers are the center of the story. The Journal puts the original 2008 estimate at $33 billion. Its description cites a current projection of $126 billion, and the video shows estimates reaching as high as $231 billion. According to the report, about $15 billion has been spent, more than 2,000 land parcels have been acquired, and change orders on the valley segment total $6.5 billion. Authority CEO Ian Choudri names the biggest obstacle as "the utilities in the way." Eminent domain fights and early federal stimulus deadlines also feature in the report.
The hardest work is still ahead. The report says tunnels through mountain ranges will be needed to reach the coastal cities. The Authority's "optimized plan" includes single-tracking and stations moved to city outskirts, a change that Helen Kerstein of the Legislative Analyst's Office calls "very substantive." State Senator Scott Wiener answers critics: "We're not going anywhere." The report also notes that polling shows 62 percent of Californians support continuing the project.
The comment section filled about eleven times faster than on a usual first day for the channel. Many viewers ask whether projects like the Hoover Dam could be built today, and many side with Thompson's case for starting at the cities.
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- Channel
- The Wall Street Journal
- Subscribers
- 6,720,000 ▲ 10,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 8,840,633
- Channel views, pace per day
- 1,855,381 (on a normal day: 1,205,379)
- Video published
- October 22, 2026
- Video views so far
- 858,872 (2 days online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 619,211 (on a normal day: 451,997)
The numbers
This was The Wall Street Journal's most watched new video since yesterday, and its comment section was far busier than usual.
💡 Test your knowledge
Which city marks the southern end of the Central Valley segment featured in the report?
The report describes the 119-mile initial segment as running between Merced and Bakersfield.