Ian Choudri left the supply industry a year ago to step into the hot seat as the CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority. In an exclusive interview with IRJ’s Mark Simmons, he describes his vision for the project to connect San Francisco with Los Angeles by high-speed rail.
California’s Central Valley stretches far to the horizon, a landscape marked by rich farmland and sprawling towns. Within 10 years, if the vision of California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) CEO Ian Choudri comes to fruition, it will also be home to the United States’ first true high-speed line, a transformative corridor that will connect the powerhouse economies of Los Angeles and San Francisco, while driving opportunity deep in the heart of California.
The project’s ambition is matched only by its complexity. Since its inception three decades ago in 1996, CHSRA has wrestled with political headwinds, intense regulatory scrutiny and the ever-present issue of funding. Now, with Choudri at the helm, a bold new effort is under way to overcome these daunting challenges by combining international best practice with resolute leadership.
California’s high-speed journey has been tortuous, reflecting the state’s unique challenges and opportunities. Approved by voters in 2008, the high-speed project plan promised to whisk passengers between Los Angeles and San Francisco in under three hours. But as the years went by, the obstacles facing CHSRA became ever clearer: a vast and diverse topography, a tangled web of local and state agencies producing copious amounts of red tape and a national context where the passenger train has long played second fiddle to highways and airlines.
Ian Choudri, who joined the project with a reputation forged in major rail projects in Europe and Asia, understands these challenges absolutely. “This is not just a rail project connecting business travelers between San Francisco and LA,” he says. “It’s a transformation of California’s economy. It’s a corridor of opportunities.” The scale of the task ahead has fired Choudri’s powerful blend of optimism and hard-nosed realism, and is now reflected in every aspect of CHSRA’s approach.
The most pressing problem confronting CHSRA is the instability of its funding streams. In a move that startled the state and reverberated through the rail sector, earlier this year the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) withdrew approximately $4 billion in funding, in a move widely interpreted as being political. The loss cast immediate doubt over how and when sections of the project could be delivered. Choudri describes the shock of the announcement matter-of-factly. “We were informed via various letters, so we knew there was a risk,” he recalls, “but the impact still can’t be overstated.”
Choudri says if funding commitments are withdrawn, entire sections or key infrastructure could be delayed, reshuffled or ultimately abandoned. “It’s about revising strategies and seeing what we can achieve with the funds available,” he says.
Dec. 11 UPDATE: A U.S. judge rejected on Dec. 10 a bid by the POTUS 47 Administration to throw out a lawsuit filed by the CHSRA to challenge the cancellation of the $4 billion in federal grants. Sacramento-based U.S. District Judge Dale Drozd rejected the Justice Department argument that the lawsuit was brought in the wrong legal venue and should have been filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, according to a Dec. 11 Reuters report. the State had challenged a previous move during POTUS 47’s first term in 2019 to revoke $929 million in federal grants, leading to a settlement in 2021 under Democratic President Joe Biden restoring the full amount.
Unique strengths
Yet here, too, California’s unique strengths have emerged. The state, under Governor Gavin Newsom, and its supportive legislature has stepped in to shore up confidence. California pledged a clear, long-term pipeline of funding anchored in its own fiscal strength, with the Cap-and-Invest emissions trading program set to generate $1 billion a year until 2046. “That’s never happened before for this project,” notes Choudri. Still, the need for predictable, longer-term funding at federal and state levels remains urgent to avoid a repeat of past instability.
The project’s size is reflected in the phased approach adopted for construction. The initial focus, as set out by statute, is the Central Valley Section (CVS) spine from Merced in the north through to Bakersfield in the south. Recently, however, Choudri and his team have suggested resequencing the project, building the northern link to Gilroy, where the high-speed line will join the Caltrain electrified line to San Francisco, ahead of the spur to Merced. Further phases will build the new line from Bakersfield southward to Palmdale, where there will initially be connections with fast Metrolink commuter services to Los Angeles and through-running onto the planned High Desert Line to Victor Valley that will connect with the planned Brightline West high-speed line to Las Vegas.
Sequencing is more than a logistical necessity. It is an adaptive strategy designed to shelter the project from uncertainty and optimize return on investment. Choudri’s approach borrows heavily from global best practice, tailored to the Californian context. “Build what you need—and only what you need—exactly when you need it,” he says. For example, rather than building large stations or laying six tracks from day one, the plan is to scale up infrastructure as demand and funding support it. This lowers upfront costs, reduces maintenance requirements and gives the project flexibility to respond to changing conditions.
By executing the project in this way, CHSRA can demonstrate early wins, starting passenger services as soon as sections are ready, building public trust and legislative support while buttressing the case for future investment.
Cutting red tape
Building public infrastructure in the U.S. means grappling with bureaucracy. Environmental review, in particular, has become something of an institution, with multiple layers of regulation often duplicating federal requirements. Choudri is forthright about this problem. “We’re at the bottom of a reverse pyramid, performing the work while seven departments hover above us, each needing to review and approve every step,” he says. California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews occur in parallel, consuming years and millions of dollars.
Recognizing this, CHSRA is now seeking legislative relief by requesting authority to pursue streamlined environmental approvals, based on robust federal processes. While minor exemptions have already been secured for certain facilities, the major breakthrough, a general exemption for a renewable power grid and rail infrastructure, remains to be made. “If we can focus on one process, not two or three, we can cut years from the schedule,” Choudri notes. The broader goal is to make green infrastructure easier to deliver in a state that champions action to tackle climate change.
Another battleground is California’s complex patchwork of private property, resulting in the need for CHSRA to acquire thousands of individual parcels of land, each with its own history, claims and sometimes, disputes. “Some parcels were easy,” Choudri says, “but the majority ran into notorious litigation, longer than anyone anticipated.” Without special powers, the authority must navigate a maze of legal processes, court hearings and complex domain cases.
At the heart of the current effort is a push for streamlining the legal process, with fast-track courts, dedicated judges and broader domain powers. “We need the tools to move quickly, fairly and transparently,” Choudri says, echoing a growing consensus among his peers working in the United States.
He also laments the fact that few outside the construction industry recognise how much time and money is consumed relocating utilities, often buried unseen along the route. For a new high-speed line, the scale of the task is enormous, with potentially thousands of utility obstacles along each section.
“This is one of the biggest issues, and lawmakers are starting to understand it,” Choudri says. He hopes for new statutes giving CHSRA more direct powers to negotiate and expedite utility relocation. Progress has already been made in selected areas, and if planned legislation is passed next year, the pace of construction could quicken significantly.
Historically, North American infrastructure procurement has leaned heavily on general contractors managing many aspects of a project, but times are changing. Choudri, informed by European practice, is modernizing procurement by having CHSRA buy major quantities of materials, including track, concrete ties and catenary, directly from the manufacturers.
“A rail is a rail, a cable is a cable,” Choudri explains. “Cutting out the middleman on common goods is smart business.” This change not only lowers costs, but also makes supply less vulnerable to external shocks, a lesson underlined by the major disruption to supply chains that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Perhaps the most striking change made by Choudri since arriving at CHRSA is embrace of public-private partnerships (P3s). In January, the authority hosted a two-day summit attended by hundreds of potential partners, from financiers to suppliers of materials. “We want to bring in industry at every stage: design, build, finance, operate,” Choudri says. The goal is to use the leverage provided by guaranteed state commitments to generate even greater private investment, multiplying the financial resources available.
While the P3 model is still relatively new for major rail projects in North America, the opportunity is vast. With $20 billion in state backing, private partners could add up to 40% of further funding, accelerating construction timelines and reducing public exposure to risk. By mid-2026, CHSRA hopes to have a committed industry partner for the next phase, and the process alone has already sparked new ideas and alliances.
Revenue streams
Choudri suggests that a high-speed line is only as sustainable as its business model. He is acutely aware that fare revenue alone will never meet the project’s full cost, so his team is examining a range of ancillary revenue streams, including leasing broadband corridors along the right-of-way and commercial developments at stations.
Learning from Spain and Italy, which Chouldri cites as examples of profitable high-speed networks, CHSRA is targeting breakeven and plans to build toward a point where surpluses can be reinvested in further expansion, creating a virtuous cycle of growth.
The ultimate operator for the first services is yet to be decided, but all signs point toward a long-term P3 concession. Critically, Choudri wants competition among operators, as in Europe, preserving incentives for innovation and efficiency. “We want to keep operations competitive and flexible,” he notes, hinting at a business environment richer and more dynamic than traditional public transport.
Despite its size and complexity, California’s high-speed project is, at its heart, people-centric. Choudri is particularly passionate about the opportunities it will provide for all Californians. “It’s not about a business traveler getting from San Francisco to LA,” he says. “It’s about someone in Fresno being able to own a home and commute affordably to the Bay Area—economic opportunity flowing to places that have long been left behind.”
He draws parallels with Europe, Japan and Taiwan, where high-speed rail has breathed new life into regional economies, rebalancing growth and making prosperity accessible beyond the major cities. The environmental benefits are also of central importance: The electricity powering trains in California is becoming greener by the day.
The impact will be felt far beyond the rail sector. Improved access to affordable housing, revitalisation of urban areas and job creation by the tens of thousands are among the expected benefits of California’s high-speed programme. The “corridor of opportunity,” as Choudri calls it, means not just a physical journey, but upward mobility as well.
Choudri and his colleagues actively study projects elsewhere and meet with their counterparts in Britain, Spain, Italy and Japan, where lessons can be learned from both success and adversity. The Italian approach, he notes, is refreshingly pragmatic: use existing lines where possible, build new high-speed infrastructure where justified. In contrast, he finds the Japanese model “ruthlessly focused on dedicated high-speed lines,” an approach shaped by geography and operating practice.
For California, adapting and innovating, rather than simply copying examples elsewhere, is paramount. The state’s immense size, economic diversity and political environment make high-speed not just another infrastructure project, but a true proving ground for next-generation public-private collaboration.
With questions still unanswered over future federal funding, the outcome of ongoing litigation awaited and the intense track-laying process and further construction still to come, the path forward for CHSRA is as daunting as ever. Yet with Choudri at the helm, there is a newfound sense of purpose.
“Build smart, build fast, build economically,” he says, encapsulating the new spirit animating CHSRA. If the authority can secure the elusive combination of regulatory clarity, innovative financing, and operational expertise, the long-anticipated vision of high-speed trains racing up and down the California corridor is within reach.
For business leaders, policy observers and passengers, California’s high-speed project is more than an engineering challenge, it is a question of the ability of the United States to develop its transport infrastructure. Choudri’s arrival and the state government’s support have certainly generated new hope. Whether he is prepared to weather the volleys of brickbats likely to be aimed at CHRSA and stay the course to see the first trains run in the early 2030s remains to be seen.
CVS funded
CHSRA says that, despite the withdrawal of $4 billion of federal funding, there is no funding gap facing the CVS. The authority says it has $28.2 billion in capital funding, including $5.5 billion from California’s Cap-and-Invest program to 2030. The proposed additional state funding of $15 billion will bring total capital funding to $U43.2 billion. The total cost of the full San Francisco-Palmdale project is currently estimated at $90.85 billion, of which $62.7 billion is expected to come through capital funding.
Choudri’s Five CHSRA Goals
- Right-size the project and build in the correct sequence, finding cost savings in a measured, responsible manner while staying laser-focused on starting track-laying, testing,- and operations on the initial 118-mile CVS, and expanding services from there.
- Build faster, smarter and more economically, rethinking how CHSRA plans and executes construction.
- Cut red tape and streamline operations, removing unnecessary processes and organizational redundancy that slows progress.
- Implement a new vision focused on connecting major population centers earlier in the project, creating the conditions necessary to attract private investment into the program.
- Stabilize state funding and financing mechanisms, working closely with the California legislature to enact the state’s funding commitment.
Delivery timeline
According to Choudri, the first test trains are due to operate on the CVS in 2032, with initial revenue services starting in 2032-33. Services north to San Francisco via Gilroy and south to Palmdale, for connections to Los Angeles, are expected to start running in 2038-39.
To date, about 460 miles of the 490 miles of high-speed line that will be built have received environmental approval and are described by CHSRA as “construction ready.” On the 118-mile CVS, about 70 miles of the alignment have been completed. A total of 58 structures including bridges and viaducts have been completed, with 29 more under construction.
