CA Sticks With High-Speed Rail Despite Doubts About Project's Prospects

Financing and due dates are just the beginning

California's effort to build a high-speed rail line between San Francisco and Los Angeles — the largest public works project now underway in the United States — is picking up political momentum, but even supporters wonder whether it can stay on track to meet its goal by 2029.

The California High Speed Rail Authority has scored several victories in recent months. It earned legislative approval and $3 billion in bond proceeds to start laying tracks next year in the largely agricultural Central Valley. It avoided new political threats and emerged unscathed from the November elections. And Friday (November 16) the $68 billion project survived an initial legal challenge that could have halted work.