Occasionally we like to provide updates on California's high speed rail projects that Gov. Gavin Newsom likes to tout as being partly due to what's been brought about by his great leadership. Those updates are often like this from June of last year, by way of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy:
California’s high-speed rail has all the marks of a boondoggle:
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) June 4, 2025
- $16 billion spent
- 17 years gone
- No high-speed track laid
We have put California on notice: If you can’t deliver, American taxpayers will not fund your train to nowhere. pic.twitter.com/EHradMYSRv
Fast forward several months and Fox News' Bill Melugin reported Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced a major milestone in the bullet train construction. Newsom no doubt hopes that everybody has a very loose definition of what constitutes a "major milestone":
NEW: California Governor Gavin Newsom announces a “major milestone” for the CA bullet train.
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) February 4, 2026
18 years after CA voters approved the project, it is almost ready to start laying track!
The project was originally supposed to connect SF & LA by 2020 & it is $100 billion over its… pic.twitter.com/h9S6qqOPBa
Here's the full post:
California Governor Gavin Newsom announces a “major milestone” for the CA bullet train.
18 years after CA voters approved the project, it is almost ready to start laying track!
The project was originally supposed to connect SF & LA by 2020 & it is $100 billion over its original projected budget.
If it is ever completed, it will only connect Gilroy (almost 2 hours south of San Francisco) to Palmdale (over an hour north of Los Angeles), which they hope to have completed by 2039, according to an update from the CA High Speed Rail Authority last summer.
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As usual, it seems to be about getting the money allocated and spent. Actually building something isn't a primary of even secondary concern.
If you’re in LA, in what world are you driving or getting an Uber all the way out to Palmdale just to get on a train to Gilroy, then get off and find transportation again for the drive north to San Francisco instead of getting on a quick flight or just making the drive yourself?
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) February 4, 2026
Newsom recently had another "major milestone":
I hear they also rebuilt their first house after the Palisades fires.
— IT Guy (@ITGuy1959) February 4, 2026
Newsom is on a roll.
There's no governance quite like "progressive" governance.
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