{"id":2653588,"date":"2026-09-02T13:09:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaigna-california-city-drops-houses-on-gavin-newsoms-bullet-train\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T13:10:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:10:34","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaigna-california-city-drops-houses-on-gavin-newsoms-bullet-train","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaigna-california-city-drops-houses-on-gavin-newsoms-bullet-train\/","title":{"rendered":"A California City Drops Houses On Gavin Newsom&#8217;s Bullet Train"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Futm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaigna-california-city-drops-houses-on-gavin-newsoms-bullet-train%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2653588&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>California Governor Gavin Newsom celebrated what he considered progress on the state&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pro-trump-religious-groups-begin-turning-up-heat-on-gop-to-take-action-on-marjorie-taylor-greene\/\" title=\"Pro-Trump, Religious Groups Begin Turning Up Heat On GOP To Take Action On Marjorie Taylor Greene\">high-speed rail project<\/a> in September, highlighting that all land acquisitions for the route from bakersfield to Merced had been completed. However, recent developments indicate that the project has faced notable setbacks. In August,the city of Shafter approved a large housing growth on land along the planned rail route,which had not yet been acquired by the state,effectively blocking the railway&#8217;s path. Despite claims from officials that construction is underway and track laying is imminent, the project currently only involves connecting Wasco to Merced, approximately twenty miles north of Bakersfield, with no firm plans to extend to Bakersfield itself. The overall project&#8217;s future remains uncertain, with promises of eventual expansion to Bakersfield still projected for the future, pending further design and acquisition processes. Critics note that the progress is limited and that the state&#8217;s claims about advancements are exaggerated or misleading, highlighting ongoing challenges and delays in completing the high-speed rail in California.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>It just shrank again.<\/p>\n<p>Last September, during a San Francisco <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.ca.gov\/2025\/09\/19\/governor-newsom-signs-historic-package-of-bipartisan-legislation-saving-billions-on-electric-bills-stabilizing-gas-market-and-cutting-pollution\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">press conference<\/a> about energy prices, California Gov. Gavin Newsom took a moment to express relief about the state\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sean-duffys-deregulation-rewrites-decades-of-transportation-rules\/\" title=\"Sean Duffy\u2019s deregulation rewrites decades of transportation rules\">long-delayed high-speed rail project<\/a>. After years of planning and property acquisition, he said, all of that early stage stuff was <em>finished<\/em>: \u201cWe\u2019re on the other side of all of the acquisitions.\u201d The route is state-owned, clear, and ready for construction. Now it\u2019s just time to finish it all up.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Gov. Newsom on high speed rail project, \u201cwe\u2019re actually laying track\u201d\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pvqNfQO7yT8?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Over the summer, though, a small city in California\u2019s Central Valley did a remarkable thing, and they did it in an important place. As the Fresno Bee first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fresnobee.com\/news\/local\/high-speed-rail\/article316952565.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a> on August 21, officials in Shafter have approved a large housing project in the middle of what was supposed to the route of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trains-built-for-doomed-wisconsin-rail-project-sold-to-nigeria\/\" title=\"Trains Built for Doomed Wisconsin Rail ... Sold to Nigeria\">high-speed rail line<\/a>. Here\u2019s the map the Shafter City Council saw at the meeting to approve the new housing tract:<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>\n<div>\n<p>         <span>Image Credit<\/span>Screenshot       <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>See the red lines? That\u2019s Gavin\u2019s train.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s why Shafter is such an important place: In 2008, California voters approved a bond measure to fund a 494-mile high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco, with a Phase Two that would extend the system to Orange County, the Inland Empire, and Sacramento. In 2015, active construction began, and state officials shifted to a focus on a smaller Phase One of the Phase One for the project: First they would connect only the Central Valley with high-speed rail, linking <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/dir\/Bakersfield,+California\/Merced,+California\/@35.4401483,-120.9337637,8z\/am=t\/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x80ea6bc8b994cb0d:0x59360c0998fe74c8!2m2!1d-119.020061!2d35.3733492!1m5!1m1!1s0x80913f84fd1bb699:0xed2faa20bc868218!2m2!1d-120.484268!2d37.302947!3e0?entry=ttu&#038;g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDgzMC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bakersfield to Merced<\/a> with a <a href=\"https:\/\/hsr.ca.gov\/project-overview\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">119-mile initial line<\/a>. That\u2019s what they\u2019ve been building ever since.<\/p>\n<p>Shafter sits along that initial line, about twenty miles north of Bakersfield, so the state can\u2019t connect Bakersfield to Merced without it. It\u2019s also just south of the state\u2019s landmark marshaling yard in the small town of Wasco, which was full of freight cars and construction activity for a press conference early this year before it <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/a_chrisbray\/status\/2057331835479494711\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">completely emptied again<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Quite significantly, as the Fresno Bee reported, city officials and the real estate developer that owns the land waited for years to hear from the High-Speed Rail Authority, knowing that the state wanted to run a train through the developer\u2019s Shafter property. But when the state <em>didn\u2019t move to acquire the land<\/em>, 11 years into active construction, the city and the developer gave up and moved forward with the new houses.<\/p>\n<p>Contacted for an explanation this week, Newsom\u2019s consistently inept office didn\u2019t respond, but the High-Speed Rail Authority did. On Tuesday, a press representative sent this message to The Federalist: \u201cThe site you\u2019re referencing is part of the planned Bakersfield extension. As design for this segment advances, we continue to assess property needs and work directly with affected landowners as part of our acquisition process. Final property requirements will be established as the design is further refined.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The same email from the media affairs office of the High-Speed Rail Authority said proudly that \u201chigh\u2011speed rail track is scheduled to be laid as early as November of this year.\u201d Again, you can go back up to the video of Gavin Newsom and see him saying, in September of 2025, that the project was <em>already laying track<\/em>. They didn\u2019t explain the chasm between those two claims.<\/p>\n<p>So the current project is to actually to connect Wasco to Merced, finishing well short of Bakersfield, but once Phase One of Phase One of Phase One is complete, the state will begin thinking about connecting high-speed rail to Bakersfield, which will constitute Phase Two of Phase One of Phase One. Update your conceptual map: The State of California does not currently believe that it\u2019s building an initial stretch of high-speed rail between Bakersfield and Merced, but it <em>hopes to<\/em> one day. In another decade or so, and after an initial cost of tens of billions of dollars, you might be able to get on a train twenty or thirty miles north of Bakersfield and absolutely <em>race <\/em>to Fresno.<\/p>\n<p>Also, when Newsom said that the state could move forward a lot faster now because all of the land acquisition is behind them, he didn\u2019t mean that the state could move forward because all of the land acquisition was behind them. He meant they had all the land for the first little part as far as Wasco, which seems like somewhat less of an accomplishment. It\u2019s unfortunate that we all didn\u2019t understand that he meant this more limited claim, merely because he didn\u2019t say it that way.<\/p>\n<p>Gavin Newsom is right: California is on the other side. Unfortunately, it\u2019s on the other side of sanity, competence, and the ability to take meaningful action in the physical reality.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Chris Bray is a senior correspondent at The Federalist and a former infantry sergeant in the U.S. Army. He has a history PhD from the University of California Los Angeles, not that it did him any good. He also posts on Substack, at &#8220;Tell Me How This Ends,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/chrisbray.substack.com\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It just shrank again: California\u2019s high-speed rail progress falters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2086,"featured_media":2653589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/gavin-other-side-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[85015,37666,32742,85014,39819],"class_list":["post-2653588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-bullet-train-project","tag-california-politics","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-infrastructure-controversy","tag-urban-development"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/gavin-other-side-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2653588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2086"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2653588"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2653588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2653592,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2653588\/revisions\/2653592"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2653589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2653588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2653588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2653588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}