In Japan, high-speed rail connects two of the country’s largest cities, Tokyo and Osaka, roughly 250 miles apart. Typically, that’s about a six-hour drive, the same amount of time it takes to travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
While Japanese residents have the option to cut the travel time in half by hopping on a train that runs nearly 200 miles per hour, Californians are stuck navigating the web of traffic and freeways.
Japan’s enjoyed the bullet train technology since the 1960s. Europe followed a decade later and China laid its first high-speed rail line in 2007.
But American engineers haven’t managed to replicate this success. In 2008, California approved $33 billion in funding to recreate the high-speed railways that were zipping through Europe and Asia at the time. The goal was to complete this vast and expensive project by 2020 — but that never happened.
Now, five years later, President Donald Trump indicated he wants to get this situation under control “because I’ve never seen anything to this extent.”
The cost of the project has ballooned from $33 billion to an estimated $135 billion. According to the California High-Speed Rail Authority, about $11 billion is already invested.
“It’s the worst managed project I think I’ve ever seen,” Trump said last week. “I built for a living and I built on time — on budget. ... It’s impossible that something could cost that much.”
He added, “They made it much shorter. So now it’s at little places way away from San Francisco and way away from Los Angeles.”
What’s the problem with California’s high speed rail?
Trump is right. Instead of a straight shot route from S.F. to L.A., the rail line will detour through several inland cities — a decision that hampered California’s ability to deliver the project in a timely and cost-effective fashion, as The New York Times reported.
In the north, the line is meant to route through San Jose before entering California’s Central Valley and the Mojave Desert, before wrapping around Burbank in L.A. Most of these compromises were a product of local political maneuvers — Silicon Valley lobbyists pushed for San Jose’s inclusion while L.A. officials argued for serving some economically depressed regions.
Earlier this year, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom lightly pushed back on the criticism the project received.
“We can’t go back. We just have to accept the responsibility of where we are, and that’s exactly what we are doing,” he said. When he took office, the California governor expressed his disappointment with the inflated costs and delays.
“Let’s be real. The current project, as planned, would cost too much and respectfully take too long. There’s been too little oversight and not enough transparency,” he said at the time. But as CalMatters reported, he switched to a more optimistic tone during the Biden administration, when there were offers of additional funds on the table.
Reacting to Trump’s comments, Rep. Jim Costa, a Democrat who represents parts of the Central Valley, told a Fox News affiliate that this big project led to 14,500 jobs in the region he represents.
“Trump attacks our progress without understanding the roadblocks that have arisen through lawsuits trying to kill the project,” said Costa.
“We’re focused on creating jobs and moving California forward. This isn’t just about a rail line; it’s a 21st-century transportation system that Asia and Europe built decades ago.”
The High-Speed Rail Authority also responded to Trump’s comments in a post on X with a short progress report. “Ignore the noise. We’re busy building,” the post said.
“As we enter the track-laying phase, 171 miles are under active construction,” it said before noting the completed construction of 50 major structures and 60 miles worth of guide way. They also received an environmental clearance.
As timelines are pushed back, it’s unclear when the construction will move on from the Central Valley to other parts of the state.
What California got wrong and Florida got right
California officials knew the consequences of the poorly mapped-out rail line. In the early 2000s, an eager French government owned railway company, the SNCF, sought to get the contract for the proposed California bullet train. The bullet train operator from Europe and Japan made many recommendations to reduce the complexities in the plan to avoid construction delays, and to avoid higher costs and increased travel time. SNCF pulled out of California in 2011.
“There were so many things that went wrong,” SNCF project manager Dan McNamara told The Times. “They told the state they were leaving for North Africa, which was less politically dysfunctional. They went to Morocco and helped them build a rail system.”
Seven years later, the northern African country’s high-speed rail service spanned across 116 miles and traveled up to 200 miles per hour.
On the opposite coast, in Florida, these issues of political dysfunction were largely avoided thanks to private investment. Although the Brightline high speed rail connects Miami to Orlando, a 235-mile stretch, it isn’t as fast as the high speed trains in other parts of the world, running up to 125 miles per hour. The project was completed within a decade after the groundbreaking in 2014, partly thanks to a more straightforward route and a less challenging terrain. The state’s lower regulatory burden also played a role.
Brightline, the only private rail operator, has its eyes set on Nevada now — and why wouldn’t it.
Brightline also began building another project that would connect Las Vegas to Los Angeles late last year, according to Forbes. And instead of gas-guzzling trains, Brightline’s $12.4 billion project will use all-electric technology, expected to be functional by December 2028.
The existing train infrastructure in the West is limited. Expanding this mode of transportation can offer a more sustainable and efficient option, especially around areas notorious for their traffic and cities where Amtrak’s service is limited.
It would explain why a California company called Dreamstar Lines Inc. is independently studying a private rail service between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, with a major stop in Las Vegas and smaller stops along the way. It’s expected to run overnight and offer luxury sleeping accommodations. Dreamstar hopes to finish its line to Utah well before the anticipated 2034 Winter Olympics.
“Without question, the United States is on the precipice of a resurgence in passenger rail, but when private companies are at the wheel, the future looks a lot different than when the government lands on railway squares on the Monopoly board,” wrote Jay Evensen for the Deseret News in November 2024.
Brightline and Dreamstar’s trains may not be as fast as the proposed California High-Speed Rail, but they’re functional and a reality.