A middle manager said more delays are inevitable, lamenting, “I am going to ride this train, but I am afraid it is going to be my ashes in an urn. I told my kids to take my ashes on the bullet train.”
, but its biggest problem involves mismanagement of land acquisitions, which has contributed to construction delays, cost increases, litigation and the launch of a federal audit.
The issue again came up at a meeting in Fresno last month when project staff told visiting senior officials the most recent bad news: The agency will have to acquire rights to as many as 468 additional parcels for utility relocations either through outright purchases, easements or encroachments.“We are encountering gut-wrenching delays,” said one key manager with an extensive background in civil infrastructure projects.
Along with needing more land for utility relocations, the rail authority is also short on property it needs for the train’s right of way. So far, it has yet to secure roughly one-sixth of the 1,859 parcels it needs for the 119 miles between Madera and Wasco.The setbacks in procuring land are costing the state money, since they are causing delays for bullet train contractors.
But rail construction elsewhere in the Central Valley has also been seriously delayed. A September progress report showed that the work has begun on only four of 50 bridges, viaducts and other structures in Kings County, for example.The authority bought a parking lot in 2016 in a dilapidated area of downtown, about 600 feet away from its future tracks.
A Fresno city official said the rail authority collaborated with the city to make plans for a bus, taxi and ride-share station on the property. As for the auction, it was required under state law, he said. The rail authority tapped a $2.5-billion federal grant for the parking lot and its invoice was approved by federal regulators, according to an authority spokeswoman.is auditing that grant and has questioned authority employees about the parking lot deal, according to individuals who have spoken to federal agents. The audit is due to be released this fall.
Don Odell, director of real property for the rail authority, said the agency has put off declaring the nonoperational properties as excess that can be sold and will retain them until the bullet train system is completed.Odell said in an interview that the staff is conducting a detailed study to determine how many of the 468 parcels for utility relocations are already owned by the rail authority and how many will require new land takes.
The land problem has many causes, but involves the authority’s decision in 2012 to issue construction contracts when it had completed only 15% of the engineering design without all of the detailed design of utility relocation. The early engineering studies did not include the final size of bridges, overpasses and track beds that would also affect utility equipment.
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