The Most Debated Infrastructure Project in America
Ian Choudri, CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, sat down with Derek Minnema for a 77-minute conversation about the project's costs, delays, progress, and future.
This free report breaks down the interview chapter by chapter, putting Choudri's perspective alongside the public record to examine the biggest questions surrounding America's high-speed rail project.
Free. Sent to your inbox right away. The premiere is free to join on LinkedIn.
Sources: CHSRA 2026 Business Plan; CHSRA Construction Progress fact sheet, July 2026; CHSRA Cap-and-Invest statement, September 2025.
Seven key questions. The answers, examined against the public record.
Explore Ian Choudri’s answers to the biggest questions surrounding California’s high-speed rail project, with sourced figures and public records linked throughout. Derek Minnema, who leads a 34-mile regional rail project in Sacramento, brings the perspective of a project owner asking the questions that matter most.
The decision
Why did a private-sector engineer take the hardest job in American infrastructure, and what does he say happens if it fails?
The first ten weeks
What Ian found when he walked in the door, and why the state’s hiring system was built for a different kind of project.
The spec nobody questioned
How one line in a design manual changed the cost of the line, with Ian’s numbers and what the Business Plan confirms.
Why patience runs out
Why it has looked like nothing is happening, and the call Ian says he would have made.
Cutting the middle out
Why the Authority now buys its own rail, and what that changes for cost and schedule.
Funding is not financing
Is the program running out of money? What the difference between those two words means, and what the Inspector General says.
The cost-per-mile question
Too expensive compared to what? A sourced comparison against high-speed lines abroad and subways at home.
Seven lessons for anyone delivering infrastructure.
What this conversation means for the next project.
Get the free report →A 14-page briefing for the boardroom, council meeting, staff briefing or newsroom.
Watch the full conversation first,
on LinkedIn Live.
The full 77-minute conversation premieres on LinkedIn Live before it reaches YouTube or Spotify. Ian explains how rewriting one design rule removed about 16 miles of tunnel, why the Authority now buys its own rail (and how that pulled track work forward), what changes when Fresno and San Jose are 45 minutes apart by train, and why he calls it “the most audited agency in the nation.”
Free to join on LinkedIn. No download or email needed.
Written for four rooms.
Legislative and agency staff
You have to explain a hundred-billion-dollar program to someone who controls money, in the time it takes to walk down a hallway.
Industry and DOT leadership
You care less about the press release than the delivery mechanics: procurement, design standards and sequencing.
Local officials and community leaders
You are the one who gets asked why it looks like nothing is happening, at every meeting, by people who are not wrong to ask.
Reporters and producers
You need a cost comparison that holds up to a fact-check and a named practitioner willing to say it on the record.
Get the report and join the premiere.
Download the 14-page PDF featuring seven chapters, seven key takeaways, and linked sources for every figure. You’ll also receive the LinkedIn Live premiere link for November 12.
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