Bullet train updates:
Amid mounting uncertainties about its future, the new leader of the California High-Speed Rail Authority says the project is close to reaching a significant milestone: the first Central Valley tracks will be laid next year.
Ian Choudri, who became the authority’s CEO in August, said Tuesday at a Fresnoland panel that the long-delayed bullet train project is too far deep into construction to look backward. [In other words, "too big to fail."]
“We are purchasing rail materials this year, we are laying tracks next year,”
Choudri said. “I don’t see any point where we have to say, ‘Oh, we can’t do it.’”
Previously, he said, plans were to purchase rail materials — including tens of thousands of concrete rail ties, electric poles and ballast — in 2026 or 2027. But the faster timeline, Choudri said, is a result of a reevaluation of the project that the authority launched in October to save costs and tighten the construction schedule.
