This audio is automatically generated. Please let us know if you have any comments.
California’s project to build a high-speed rail line between San Francisco and Los Angeles, approved by voters in 2008, has faced delays, cost overruns and political opposition from two Trump administrations and congressional Republicans.
Ian Choudhury
Permit granted by the California High Speed Rail Authority
Stepping into this quagmire, Ian Choudri was named executive director of the California High Speed Rail Authority in August 2024. He’s no stranger to rail megaprojects, having worked with Bechtel Corporation, HNTB and other large contractors. He worked on the construction of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s Dulles Airport line in Washington, DC, and was a field engineer on the Channel Tunnel linking southern England and northern France.
Now he is tasked with finding the money to complete the California project, meet construction deadlines and restore the confidence of politicians and the public. Smart Cities Dive spoke with Choudri about the challenges facing the project and how he plans to overcome them.
Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
SMART CITIES DIVE: What was your impression of the project when you became CEO in 2024?
IAN CHOUDRY: I was already aware of many of the challenges this project had. One was the organizational structure. Funding has always been the main constraint to organizing anything in the right order. I also wanted to look at the design criteria that we were using to build this high-speed rail, and so we had to make improvements in all of those areas.
what did you do first
I had to recruit the entire team at the head of the most relevant industries. So if there is a construction manager, his entire career has been construction before and he has been in railroad construction. [The] The head of engineering is someone who has worked in high-speed rail engineering and planning.
My instruction to our leadership was to look at every opportunity that could help streamline this project so that we can build it as quickly as we can.
We have improved the design criteria and aligned them with European and Japanese high-speed rail system design standards. We found many opportunities not to overload, [and] this gave us the opportunity to rethink the right size of the project, which is how we optimized the cost.
What compromises and decisions had to be made in the August update report to bring the project to completion sooner and at a lower cost?
We looked at everything: financing, funding, marketing, monetization, legal challenges we had and also return on investment. Then we had to present this plan with optional options.
[The state] the legislature decided what it wanted to do for now. The choice was a billion dollars [a year] for 20 years. We called for seven or eight other legislative actions that will actually speed up construction, speed up problem solving, and build it much faster. We will go back and have further discussions in January, February 2026 and continue to have a dialogue.
In the legislature, the issues are very popular and I have a lot of support [Gov. Gavin Newsom]the team of They are behind. So, I hope that in the next two to three months, these things will move.
You talked about the possibility of involving the private sector. What can you tell us about where this is?
We began our individual discussions [in January] in trust with different groups: financiers, dealers, banks, etc. We published requests for expressions of interest from industry for P3 (public-private partnership) groups and received 30 responses from 30 different entities. Six or seven are the biggest investors, concessionaires who have shown extreme interest.
They were waiting for legislative action. Now they know there’s funding, so in November we’re going to solicit P3 investors and we’re going to do it. [select] the most qualified team for, I would say, May or June next year.
What other financing options are you considering?
Imagine a fiber connection, 5G broadband, different entities using the [rail] corridor that is now owned by the state under a long-term concession regime. We’re talking to the hyperscalers: Google, Meta and others [cloud service providers] — if they want to use this corridor to lay a fiber cable [that] they can connect their data centers.
We are also looking [a federal Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing] loan, so we have to think when is the right time to get the loan. [Also,] muni bonds Everything is on the table.
Are there other ways to generate income from the railway once it is finished?
The Central Valley is the heart of agriculture [in California]. Maybe we have another chance to help local farmers, because the traffic running on an electrified freight train [would] costs a fraction of [trucking] this on a highway. The cost of running electrified trains is cheaper, [and] you can really improve the profitability of farmers. We’re not digging into it yet, but we’re looking at it.
Have you factored inflation into your cost projections?
This is fundamental to how we make our estimates now. If we’re saying we can finish that segment by 2033, the cost we’re saying is in those dollars over time with inflation.
Where we have problems right now is the uncertainty about the things that are imported: aluminum, copper, things of that nature, because of the tariff situation.
Because you took the lead on California’s high-speed rail project, the Trump administration canceled $4 billion in previously approved grants. Is the project now at an inflection point?
At this point, it really is “build more and move on”. We will hire a contractor who will start laying tracks next year. We are now close to completing 120 miles of civil works by the end of 2026. That is the plan. This is what we are doing. Now you can look at us [to see] whether we are carrying out our plan or not and we take responsibility.
What do you want our readers to take away from this conversation?
Let’s not make this project a political football. It’s the real American high-speed train we’ve been talking about for decades.
I am 1000% sure that once the trains are running at high speed, the public will turn around and say we need more. And then when people start using it and we start generating revenue from that system, we put that money back in and build more as we go.
