California’s high-speed rail project, once promised to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco, has turned into a $125 billion disaster. A recent investigation called it a “complete bait and switch” for voters. The bullet train was approved by Californians in 2008 and was supposed to be running years ago. Voters approved $9.95 billion in initial funding, with the total project estimated at around $33 billion at the time. The goal was to link the state’s two biggest cities in under three hours, cutting pollution and easing traffic. 60 Minutes recently looked into the project and found out that the reality looks completely different today. Congressman Vince Fong, a Republican from Bakersfield who sits on the House Transportation Committee, was direct about the situation. “It’s now 2026, and there are no trains, there’s no track laid,” he said. He called it “a complete bait and switch,” adding that the original 2008 plan was “very theoretical” and that “they didn’t have the specifics worked out.” Poor planning, skyrocketing costs, and land disputes have crippled the project from the start California’s strict environmental regulations have triggered a long chain of reviews, lawsuits, and delays, which have dramatically driven up costs. The high cost of labor and construction in the U.S. compared to other countries has also made the budget harder to control. California has had no shortage of troubling headlines lately, including the story of a man who died after falling from a hotel patio while fleeing a fight on Cannery Row. Land acquisition has been another major problem. The rail authority hadn’t figured out basic details, like exactly where the tracks would go. California Secretary of Transportation Toks Omishakin explained that 3,000 parcels of land had to be negotiated just for the segments being worked on in the Central Valley. Even one farmer refusing to sell can cause long delays. America’s hopes for its first high-speed rail line were kindled in 2008, when California voters approved a ballot measure for a bullet train between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Nearly two decades later, that dream is yet to arrive. https://t.co/rDUsWKcxbN pic.twitter.com/0uRSAmXW63— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) April 5, 2026 Anthony Williams, a board member for the California High Speed Rail Authority and a former legislative affairs secretary for Governor Gavin Newsom, was honest about the project’s financial foundations. When asked if the financing was in place when the project launched, he said, “It wasn’t. Let’s be real.” The project’s estimated cost has now ballooned to around $125 billion, more than Amtrak has received in its entire history, yet there is still a shortfall of roughly $90 billion. Omishakin admitted, “I don’t think the voters fully understood, and neither did we in the public sector, what it was going to take to actually get this project delivered.” With construction costs soaring and the timeline years behind schedule, California has focused on completing a more limited route than originally intended – a route that few were clamoring for, and fewer are likely to ride. https://t.co/XFAUjDeoyW pic.twitter.com/VPue8v98cs— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) April 5, 2026 With costs rising and timelines stretching far beyond original targets, the LA-to-SF plan has been scaled back significantly. The state is now aiming for a more modest goal: a train connecting the Central Valley cities of Bakersfield and Merced, with service not expected until 2033 at the earliest. According to CBS News, Lou Thompson, who helped found Amtrak and served on California’s High-Speed Rail Peer Review Group, said that when a project’s budget no longer allows for its original completion, “you start cutting off your arms and legs.” After building a passenger train between Miami and Orlando, Brightline now plans to build America’s first true high-speed rail. The line would connect Los Angeles and Las Vegas in just over two hours, a trip that can take five hours by car. https://t.co/ywdj8W8868 pic.twitter.com/et53AnI6h9— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) April 5, 2026 President Donald Trump canceled $4 billion in federal grants for the project in 2025, calling it “the worst cost overrun I’ve ever seen.” Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said the administration supports high-speed rail but that this project has “wasted billions in taxpayer dollars yet delivered nothing.” Omishakin admitted that completing all 494 miles without federal support would be “challenging.” Meanwhile, a private company called Brightline is trying to succeed where the public sector has failed. Their planned bullet train would connect Los Angeles and Las Vegas in just over two hours at speeds of up to 200 miles per hour, running along the median of the I-15 highway, which sidesteps the land acquisition problems that hurt California’s project. Construction has already begun, with service projected to start in 2029. However, Brightline has faced financial challenges, with analysts downgrading its debt to “junk” status, and its Florida operations have been linked to over 200 deaths since 2018 due to street-level crossings. The company says its Western route, running through open desert with no street crossings, will be much safer. More than 20 countries around the world now have high-speed rail, including Morocco, Turkey, and Indonesia. When asked why these countries have it but the U.S. doesn’t, Thompson gave a straightforward answer: “Well, the simple answer is they’ve decided they want to do it and pay for it, and we haven’t.”