California’s soaring cost for its dragged-out high-speed rail construction was inflated by another recent political embarrassment for the state: labor icon Cesar Chavez.
Calls are growing for California’s high-speed rail to be abandoned completely after revelations this week that the estimated cost of completing the fantasy train project has ballooned to a staggering $231 billion.
We’ve now learned about a billion dollars of that cost stems from a reroute around the resting place of Chavez and his wife at the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument in Keene — and rail regulators are now open to reconsidering, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Board directors at the High-Speed Rail Authority needed to route the train through the Tehachapi Mountains, which separates the San Joaquin Valley from the Mojave desert. Standing in the way was the national monument, a 187-acre compound and former headquarters of the United Farm Workers.
The Authority was under pressure to not disturb Chavez’s gravesite, as he was a revered figure for California Democrats.
Representatives for the Chavez center had argued that plans to expand tracks already near the memorial would be noisy and disrupt visitors. In response, the plan was altered to moved the track three-quarters of a mile away from the monument boundary, becoming a curve that would have to go through roads and tunnels.
That would cost $815 million, officials estimated in 2020 — now around $1 billion with inflation.
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The curve would have required not only more track and tunneling but also massive amounts of soil to conceal the train and blend in with the environment.
However, this past March, a number of women came forward to allege that Chavez had raped them when they were children. The reaction was swift as many Democratic leaders in the state disavowed the man they once touted as legendary.
Under the new context, directors at the High-Speed Rail Authority told the Chronicle they may do away with the curve.
“We are constantly reviewing decisions that we’ve made along that alignment,” said board director Henry Perea.
Board director Martha Escutia said she is “always willing to reopen current commitments to ensure we get the best savings for taxpayers.”
“This is a billion dollars we don’t have,” board director Ernest Camacho said. “There are a lot of other things we need. If there is a better route, we’re always open.”
Regardless of whether there will be re-routing, the timeline for California’s rail project — which broke ground in 2015 — still remains vague. A state analysts’ report Monday warned of “several issues” with the High-Speed Rail Authority’s business plan, such as uncertain funding assumptions and shifting the project’s scope in violation of current state law.
“In our view, the draft plan’s approach lacks transparency,” Helen Kerstine, an auditor in the Legislative Analyst’s Office, told lawmakers.
