After the Los Angeles Times reviewed the project documents and interviewed scientists, engineers and construction experts, it’s clear that state officials have underestimated the cost and challenges ahead, especially when having to tunnel through complex mountains in northern Los Angeles.

“It doesn’t strike me as realistic,” said James Monsees, one of the world’s top tunneling experts and an author of the federal manual on highway tunneling. “Faults are notorious for causing trouble.

A confidential 2013 report by the state’s main project management contractor, New York-based Parsons Brinckerhoff, estimated that the cost of building the first phase from Burbank to Merced had risen 31% to $40 billion. And it projected that the cost of the entire project would rise at least 5%.

But after the Los Angeles Times presented this information, Jeff Morales, the rail authority chief executive, stated that he believes the costs can be reduced below the projected $68 billion cost.

Morales didn’t say or indicate who would pay if the project ran over cost.

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