The latest cost estimates for construction of an interim operational segment of high-speed rail through the central San Joaquin Valley remain unchanged from a report last year to the state Legislature — an unusual note of stability after years of a rising price tag.

But one key source of funds to keep the work going is set to expire in 2030 unless state lawmakers agree to extend it.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority’s 2024 Business Plan, a draft of which was released Feb. 9 and is open for public comment prior to final approval April 11, forecasts the cost for its planned 171-mile stretch from downtown Merced to downtown Bakersfield within a range from $26.2 billion to almost $33 billion.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5518813&forum_id=2#47591096)

Over recent months, California’s bullet-train agency has received about $3.3 billion in new federal funds — one of the first major infusions of money from the Federal Railroad Administration under President Joe Biden since the Obama administration in the early 2010s. The rail authority has applications pending for another $4.7 billion for work in the Valley and elsewhere in the state.

“At the federal level, it can change with who’s in the White House, and we’ve lived with both sides of that,” Kelly told the board Thursday, referring to moves by then-President Donald Trump in 2019 to cancel a grant agreement for almost $1 billion in federal funds; Trump also threatened to seek repayment of another $2 billion in stimulus money that had already been largely spent by the state. The Biden administration restored the canceled grant in mid-2021.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5518813&forum_id=2#47591097)