California High-Speed Rail Project Cost Rises To $105 Billion

Sacramento, CA– A further $5 billion dollars has been added to the cost of the California high-speed rail line, this is according to the latest numbers that show it could take $105 billion to finish the rail line that will run from San Fransico to Los Angeles.

The figures were included in the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s latest business plan. The increases are at least partly due to commitments that are targeting minimizing community disruption, such as keeping the train from the Cesar E.Chavez National Monument in the Central Valley and tunneling tracks near the Burbank airport according to project officials.

The project’s price tag has been rising since voters first approved nearly $10 billion in bond money for it in 2008.

The first part of the line will run through the Central Valley,  with potential test runs taking passengers from Merced to Bakersfield. No track has been laid down but 90% of the land parcels for the first segment and more than half for the fully realized 500-mile route is now environmentally cleared.