The top official at a California agency running the state’s long-delayed bullet train project is taking a leave of absence after he was arrested earlier this month over allegations of domestic violence, although prosecutors say they aren’t pressing charges.
The events bring further unwanted attention to the nation’s largest infrastructure project, which was already under scrutiny for holdups and skyrocketing costs and saw its federal funding cut by the Trump administration last year.
Ian Choudri was tasked in 2024 with reinvigorating the project as CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority after working on similar systems in Europe. California voters initially approved $10 billion in bonds in 2008 to cover about a third of the cost. The link between San Francisco to Los Angeles was supposed to be finished by 2020, but officials now say it could cost more than $120 billion and that just the Central Valley section could open by 2032.
Choudri was arrested Feb. 4 in the city of Folsom, outside Sacramento, police Lt. Lou Wright said. The Folsom Police Department offered no additional details about what happened.
There wasn’t enough evidence to file charges against Choudri, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office said, after law enforcement arrested him and his fiancee but didn’t find injuries on either person.
“Our office takes all allegations of domestic violence incredibly seriously,” it said in a statement, “regardless of who the suspect is or what position they hold in our community.”
Choudri chose to take “a few days” away from his job, according to his attorney, who emphasized that prosecutors haven’t asked him to appear in court.
“While my client appreciates that this legal matter has been thoroughly evaluated, his family needs time to privately process and heal,” Allen Sawyer said in a statement. “He remains committed to his work, and this short absence will also give the board space to independently review the conclusions of the legal process.”
Choudri’s leave will allow the rail authority and state transportation agency to review what happened, an authority spokesperson said in a statement.
“We are taking this matter seriously, consistent with our longstanding commitment to public responsibility, transparency, and accountability,” they said, adding that the authority’s work would continue without interruption.
Choudri’s arrest came to light this week after KCRA-TV in Sacramento first reported it.
He told The Associated Press last year that he wanted to get involved with California’s high-speed rail project to “completely turn it around” and stabilize its funding. He’s been trying to partner with the private sector to help fund the project.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers last year approved $1 billion annually for the project through 2045 from revenues the state receives from its cap-and-trade program, which aims to reducing planet-warming pollution from large emitters.
—AP