How AI Data Centers Could Save California High-Speed Rail

Forbes

Trump is clawing back $4 billion, but new CEO Ian Choudri has a host of ideas — including leasing land for data centers to bring in more revenue — to pay for the costly project.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2025/08/13/how-ai-data-centers-could-save-california-high-speed-rail/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, how AI data centers could save California's high-speed rail project.

00:08With the clawing back of $4 billion in federal grants to support it, the Trump administration

00:13seems hell-bent on ensuring that California's high-speed rail project ends up as precisely

00:18the quote, train to nowhere, the president has lambasted it as.

00:23Governor Gavin Newsom is suing to keep the money, but the train's new CEO has big ideas

00:29for saving the priciest U.S. infrastructure project.

00:33They include new long-term funding, private partnerships, and even turning to one of California's

00:38newest so-called natural resources, the AI Data Center.

00:44Ian Chowdhury, who spent decades working on global mega-infrastructure projects for major

00:49engineering firms Bechtel, Alstom, and Parsons before taking the high-speed rail job last

00:54September, is on a mission to convince skeptics that after years of slow progress, the Golden

01:00State's bullet train from San Francisco to Los Angeles can be built, perhaps for less than

01:05its $128 billion price tag, and even without federal support.

01:11Without providing financial details, he told Forbes, quote, we'll show that it becomes less

01:16cumbersome on taxpayers because it's generating revenue.

01:21In addition to future ride revenue, he thinks the system can make money by letting tech firms

01:25build data centers on its land, powering them with solar farms that will also propel its

01:31trains.

01:33Other ideas include selling the rights to telecom companies to lay fiber-optic cable along the

01:38train's path, and promoting real estate development projects on its route, particularly in the lower-priced

01:43Central Valley region.

01:45Chowdhury said, quote, we're getting contacted by Silicon Valley investors now asking, hey,

01:51can we move data centers into Fresno and plug into your power grid that's renewable?

01:55If I combine all those ancillary revenue sources, roughly it's going to be 30% to 40% of the

02:00Fairbox revenue.

02:03Chowdhury was planning to submit a revised plan this week that maps out steps to complete an

02:08initial 119-mile segment through California's Central Valley by 2033 and then expand service

02:14north to San Francisco and San Jose and south to Palmdale in Southern California as soon

02:20as 2039, with Los Angeles to follow later.

02:24His focus is on sequencing construction phases to maximize revenue as quickly as possible,

02:29making the project less dependent on government money.

02:33Chowdhury, sitting in a conference room overlooking the copper-topped California Capitol building

02:37in Sacramento, said, quote, build the initial sections where you can, start using the service,

02:43have the highest impact on the economic transformation of the towns and cities that are getting connected,

02:49and then add more value by monetizing all the assets you have along the corridor.

02:53That's so critical in our new approach because it offsets a lot of this demand for continuous

02:58funding, whether federal, state, or a combination of both, because your system goes live

03:02and becomes a corridor of opportunities for everybody.

03:07The plan is a massive change from the project's past, but it hinges on critical legislation.

03:13A long-term funding plan proposed in May by Newsom would provide an additional $20 billion,

03:19or $1 billion a year through 2045, along with a bill to speed up permitting for high-speed rail

03:25authority construction work and relocate portions of roads and utilities that are in the way.

03:30State Senator Scott Wiener of San Francisco, who authored the permitting bill, isn't certain

03:35the funding plan will be authorized in the current session that ends on September 12th,

03:39but he thinks support for the project is improving.

03:42Senator Wiener said, quote,

03:44People want to see a solid plan to deliver the project in a timely manner, and people are

03:49looking for new approaches, creative approaches, to deliver the project more efficiently and

03:53more quickly.

03:56Chowdhury has built up his team with rail and infrastructure veterans, including construction

04:00chief Edward Finn, who helped build Brightline's Florida system, and Soon-Sik Lee, chief of planning

04:06and engineering, who previously worked on the UAE's Etihad high-speed rail line and Caltrain.

04:12For full coverage, check out Alan Owensman's piece on Forbes.com.

04:19This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes. Thanks for tuning in.

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