SHAFTER, Calif.—Some 18 years after California voted to launch a bullet train that would travel between San Francisco and Los Angeles in under three hours, the project now costs billions more than planned, is years behind schedule and has yet to lay its first track.
The topic is polarizing in the valley. “You can’t really talk about it too loudly until you know where people stand. Before that, she worked for a concrete company that helped build some structures for the rail project. “Californians have money. On a warm summer evening in Shafter, kids played baseball, families strolled downtown for ice cream and men in cowboy hats watched the sunset from a park. Locals worry the project would hurt businesses, since the track’s footprint would displace some. As downtown closed for the night, one restaurant filled up: El Michoacano, a block from the tracks, where Alvidrez and her husband ate. “We don’t have that many. Some locals envision the benefits if the train is completed. He added that doing so has sped up the schedule—the rail project expects to lay the first track by the end of this year. Choudri is also seeking private investors to keep the project running. A global consortium that includes a pension fund manager from Quebec is currently assessing financing options for the rail project.
Incorporated in 1938, Shafter has roots as a railroad depot; the high-speed rail project would replace existing Amtrak and freight tracks with a wider, elevated line surrounded by 35-foot walls. Last summer, the Trump administration withdrew $4 billion in federal funding , citing the project’s failure to meet its obligations under the grant agreement. To help bridge the gap, California passed a bill last year to draw $1 billion a year through 2045 from its cap-and-trade program, which Choudri is trying to get an advancement on.
I’m pro-train, but it’s a divisive issue,” said Constance Peters, a shift leader at The 18hundred restaurant in Bakersfield who grew up in the area. We want to travel,” Peters said. “They’ll have to tear down stores,” she said. “If I can get to San Francisco in two hours, I’d go on a Tuesday,” says Jeinner Aviles, a Bakersfield resident who runs the El Michoacano restaurant, owned by his father. Eager to get trains running, Choudri said he has shaved off 2½ years of time by buying commodities, such as concrete rail ties, wires, poles and ballast, and storing them at a yard so contractors and builders can just “pick the stuff up and start laying tracks.
