Overview

• Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy canceled $175 million in grants tied to track extensions, grade separations, a Madera station and San Francisco’s Transbay rail design, following July’s roughly $4 billion withdrawal and a directive for an FRA grant review.
• The rail authority’s new supplemental outlines three paths: Merced–Bakersfield service by 2032 for about $36.75 billion, an extension to Gilroy by early 2038 for $54.4 billion, or a larger build reaching Palmdale/Los Angeles for roughly $87.1 billion.
• CHSRA leaders say predictable state support could help unlock private capital, with lawmakers proposing a $1 billion-per-year allocation from cap-and-trade revenues to stabilize financing through the next two decades.
• Active work spans about 119 miles in the Central Valley, and the authority reports roughly $13 billion invested to date as tracklaying advances on the initial segment.
• Project forecasts show the Merced–Bakersfield segment would run an operating deficit based on expected ridership and revenues, and California has sued to reverse the federal funding pullbacks as oversight intensifies.