California's high-speed rail project continues to be a dumpster fire of incompetence and overspending. This week, the project's CEO, Ian Choudri, announced his resignation after the Los Angeles affiliate of CBS News pressed him with questions about consultants and travel spending.
The head of California high-speed rail has stepped down, casting new uncertainty over the troubled, $126 billion transportation megaproject.
Ian Choudri, who has served as the CEO of the state’s High-Speed Rail Authority since 2024, submitted his resignation late Wednesday, according to the authority’s board chair Steve Kawa. The move followed an investigation by the Office of the Inspector General which concluded that consultants have billed the authority nearly $600,000 for unauthorized expenses, including first-class flights and rides to gyms as well as an escape room.
After the inspector general published those findings, the authority opted to limit Choudri’s authority to manage contracts.
As mentioned, the High-Speed Rail Authority's OIG released a report last month about the "unallowable" travel spending. But as with many political scandals in a blue state, no one really cares until the media makes the story impossible to ignore. First, here's what the OIG report found:
A report issued Tuesday by the authority's Office of the Inspector General said allegations that the CHSRA failed to comply with state regulations and contract requirements when reimbursing consultants' travel expenses were substantiated. Out of the more than $1 million of travel expenses reviewed between 2024 and 2026, the report states, 60%, or $680,500, did not comply with state regulations requiring advance approval, "indicating there was little to no upfront consideration of the need for or cost of the travel."
Of the unapproved expenses, $592,000 were deemed to be unallowable, according to the report, under state travel regulations or under the contract with the consultants. The reimbursements included expenses for premium airfares, Uber Black and Lyft Black upgrades, trips to gyms, escape rooms, cigar lounges, tiki bars, and private residences with no documentation of a state business purpose.
Also not allowed, the report says, were reimbursement expenditures for international and out-of-state travel, or travel from locations other than the consultants' approved office locations...
"Only in California could a project that is years late and billions over budget somehow find money for consultant rides to a cigar lounge," said Assembly Minority Leader Alexandra Macedo (R-Tulare) in a prepared statement.
So what happened here is that the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) handed its credit card to a bunch of highly-paid consultants who were using it for all their travel needs, including trips to local bars and international flights. In the scheme of waste this project represents, half a million dollars is chump change. Still, it's easy to pin down and hard to explain.
But even before that, CBS was reporting on the fact that CHSRA had failed to buy the actual trains it had promised to buy, missing several deadlines. This is not a small matter because even after the trains are purchased they anticipate six years for construction and testing.
CBS LA followed that up with another, more recent, report about consultants milking this boondoggle for millions.
When the California High-Speed Rail Authority awarded a $24 million contract to KPMG, newly obtained records indicate it knew the consulting giant intended to charge more than its unusually low bid for high-level positions...
The impact? KPMG billed taxpayers roughly $2 million more in just four months than its winning cost proposal indicated.
In its first year, KPMG has already spent nearly half of its four-year, $24 million contract...
Choudri's fiancée also now works for KPMG.
CEO Choudri declined to answer questions about any of this, so CBS LA reporter Julie Watts showed up at a public meeting to hound him, along with another reporter from KCRA. This is the raw video of the encounter, not the polished final report. You don't have to watch all of this, but you'll quickly get the vibe of Choudry looking confused and ducking questions. It's painful to watch.
Again, a dry OIG report showing half-a-million in unallowable spending isn't going to matter to anyone in California, but a media circus like this is pretty hard to ignore. So give the press its due in this case. They probably are the reason Choudri resigned. I'll wrap this up with Julie Miller's report explaining the whole thing. The only thing I'll add is that it couldn't be more clear that this boondoggle has just become a fat contract for consultants and unions to bleed dry. Personally, I'd love to have decent high speed rail in California but this project is a disaster and should be canceled.