Audit finds $680,000 spent on consultants' leisure trips for California high-speed rail

A recent inspector-general report on the California High-Speed Rail Authority uncovered $2 million in payments to four consulting firms, with $680,000 spent on travel that appears unrelated to project needs. Consultants billed the state for first-class flights, prohibited international trips and numerous Uber rides to gyms, a cigar lounge, a tiki bar, a nightclub and an escape-room venue, often without any advance approval.

The audit notes that many expense justifications were vague or absent, and that the authority approved them assuming senior executives had requested the travel. The high-speed rail project, already facing a cash shortfall that could force a funding gap by the end of 2027, has seen its cost estimates rise dramatically. Republican lawmakers seized on the findings to call for the project's termination, while the rail authority pledged to tighten travel controls and recover improper costs. The controversy adds political pressure to a megaproject whose completion is now pushed to around 2039.