Senate Transportation Chair Responds to High-Speed Rail Project Update

SACRAMENTO – The following statement was issued by State Senator Dave Cortese (D-Silicon Valley), Chair of the California Senate Transportation Committee, in response to the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s 2025 Supplemental Project Update Report. The Authority notes that long-term, stable state funding is essential to achieving commercial success and attracting private sector participation through potential public-private partnerships.

Senator Cortese’s statement is as follows:

“Today’s report only reaffirms what many of us have long believed: that California’s High-Speed Rail project can serve as an engine for our state’s economic growth. The plan lays out how we can connect California’s population centers — from the Bay Area to Northern Los Angeles — on a dramatically accelerated timeline to bring about limitless economic, housing, and climate benefits.

Many areas across our state are on the cusp of an economic revival, and high-speed rail can help accelerate that momentum. Everywhere a station is built, we have the opportunity to spark new housing, grow local businesses and create jobs that lift up local economies.

Today’s report also underscores the need for stable, long-term funding to keep high-speed rail on track. That’s exactly why I’ve authored SB 545, to ensure we are capturing the full value of new housing and commercial development along the high-speed rail corridor. By tying project funding to this growth, we can make high-speed rail a self-sustaining investment that greatly reduces the burden on taxpayers.”

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