California High-Speed Rail
94
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39
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Search complete. 94 mentions across 39 episodes found for "California High-Speed Rail".
Oct 3, 2026
Randy WangHOST
Here is Fox 40 and Eytan Wallace.
speaker_3UNKNOWN
From first class flights to cigar lounges, even a nightclub, those are among the expenses a state report found the High-Speed Rail Authority approved for contractors working on the project.
speaker_3UNKNOWN
Now, Governor Gavin Newsom is weighing in, and he has some pretty strong words about what should happen next.
Randy WangHOST
I love how the only B-roll they have of the high-speed rail is, like, the preview video of what it might look like that they probably built back in 2012 'cause CGI is way better now.
Randy WangHOST
If he said Inspector Genital, that's Manny
Eytan WallaceCORRESPONDENT
Manny$0.1 million in travel expenses ultimately approved for these four consulting firms hired to work on the project.
Eytan WallaceCORRESPONDENT
Auditors found that the High-Speed Rail Authority reimbursed the firms about $680,000 in travel expenses that had not been previously approved.
Randy WangHOST
And this was only for one small section.
John PhillipsHOST
Well, our pal Julie Watts is arguably the best investigative reporter here in the state of California, and Randy, she has a humdinger.
Randy WangHOST
She has been looking into all the new legislation surrounding the Inspector General's office at the California High-Speed Rail.
Randy WangHOST
For more on this, choo, choo, choo, here is CBS2.
Randy WangHOST
I shouldn't have done that.
David TangipaGUEST
Uh, I mean, the federal government doesn't even support it, so how can they say that the plan in which they're trying to do right now is a viable plan if there is no possible engineering or route that they can do for a federal canal to be moved, and the federal administration doesn't even support it? There's also another one that's part of the southern extension.
David TangipaGUEST
Th- th- this is more of the, uh, Palmdale to Burbank that is part of the California High-Speed Rail plan that is tunneling under the Burbank Airport.
David TangipaGUEST
That is illegal under FAA guidelines.
David TangipaGUEST
You cannot tunnel under an airport.
7 MINS LATER
David TangipaGUEST
Very few wanna lead.
David TangipaGUEST
Very few want to be out there and say that this is wrong.
David TangipaGUEST
I don't support the California High-Speed Rail project because it is wrong to lie to people.
David TangipaGUEST
And I tell people, I have an issue stealing from people.
John PhillipsHOST
Well, our pal Julie Watts is arguably the best investigative reporter here in the state of California, and Randy, she has a humdinger.
Randy WangHOST
She has been looking into all the new legislation surrounding the Inspector General's office at the California High-Speed Rail.
Randy WangHOST
For more on this, choo, choo, choo, here is CBS 2.
Randy WangHOST
I shouldn't have done that.
ChrisHOST
The upstate New York rail improvements all at one time.
ChrisHOST
California High Speed Rail, I
LewisHOST
think, is like another big one that comes to mind with that.
ChrisHOST
Yeah.
6 MINS LATER
James FlattumGUEST
So when you compare that to some of the projects on the coasts, it's very, very small.
James FlattumGUEST
The total price tag of the capital side of the project is between four and five billion dollars.
James FlattumGUEST
So when you compare that to the one hundred and twenty six billion dollars of phase one of California high speed rail, it's obvious that we're taking a different approach.
James FlattumGUEST
Right.
John PhillipsHOST
Uh, Royal, let's shift gears here and talk about the bullet train because there is an auditor who is looking at the books of that nonexistent train and found all kinds of waste, fraud, and abuse, including high-priced Uber Blacks to go one mile in downtown Sacramento, nightclub bills, first-class airfare upgrades.
John PhillipsHOST
You name it, they're charging it to the High Speed Rail Authority, which they're not supposed to do.
John PhillipsHOST
They've been doing it for quite some time.
John PhillipsHOST
He says he'd be able to find a lot more of this kind of abuse if the state would actually give him the tools that he needs to properly perform an audit, including hiring staff.
Jonathan MavroitisMODERATOR
Lee, let's take a look at your California On Your Mind article that just posted recently, in which you take a look at the recent audit of California's high-speed rail project.
Jonathan MavroitisMODERATOR
Quote from your article, a report released earlier this month by high-speed rails inspector general documented that the nearly 60% of California high-speed rail consultant travel expenses reimbursed by the state violated contracts and or state rules, including visits to an escape room, whatever that is.
Jonathan MavroitisMODERATOR
Yeah.
Jonathan MavroitisMODERATOR
nightclubs, and a tiki bar.
Jonathan MavroitisMODERATOR
The inspector general also warned that the project may run out of cash by December, 2027, as the project has yet to lay any track.
Jonathan MavroitisMODERATOR
Lee, you have been following this California high-speed rail project for years, including providing testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Jonathan MavroitisMODERATOR
Do these findings square with your analysis over the years?
Leo HainianPANELIST
Yeah, you know, the high-speed rail, it just continues to be a mind-boggler just in terms of how much money has gone into it, how many promises have been made, how many promises have not been kept, and just how long this has been just a pain in the state's rear for so many reasons.
speaker_0HOST
In rapid series you have the operations and maintenance facility, the terminus station on the Sprinter, and then a freight switching puzzle.
speaker_0HOST
And on top of all of this, the dashed red line is actually part of a future phase for California High-Speed Rail, so there may actually be a transfer opportunity between a DMU and a high-speed rail route all the way into Sacramento and San Francisco.
speaker_0HOST
That would honestly be really cool.
speaker_0HOST
I cannot wait for the day.
Ashley ZavalaCORRESPONDENT
Mm-hmm.
Ashley ZavalaCORRESPONDENT
Yeah, well, the most famous one is the California High-Speed Rail project.
Ashley ZavalaCORRESPONDENT
It gets a, or it has been getting a major bulk of the money.
Ashley ZavalaCORRESPONDENT
The project is-
speaker_1HOST
First stop on California's high-speed rail, the Tiki Bar, a state that once built vast dams and aqueducts has been mired in decades of broken promises and dysfunction over a project that was born with a wholly inadequate funding mechanism, senior fellow Leo Hainian argues at California On Your Mind.
speaker_1HOST
A report released earlier this month by High Speed Rail's Inspector General documented that nearly 60% of California High Speed Rail consultant travel expenses reimbursed by the state violated contracts and or state rules, including visits to an escape room, nightclubs, and a tiki bar, Ohanian reports.
speaker_1HOST
Ohanian, who has testified before the US House of Representatives on the California High Speed Rail project, provides a history of incomplete plans, construction delays, and ballooning costs associated with this infamous railway.
speaker_1HOST
As of today, he writes, the project still has yet to lay any track.
speaker_0HOST
Proposed wealth tax risks destroying California's innovation engine.
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