Political power. Five different middle management hierarchies the politicians can appoint people to as favors.
>And if so why not hire a Japanese or Chinese company that is obviously proficient at building these types of rail systems?
Because it's not about building infrastructure. It's about the government serving itself.
However, the TLDR is that the US (and, to an extent, the rest of the neoliberal world) botches transit and rail transport projects because government agencies lack the in-house capacity for effective management and rely too much on outside consultants whose interests are poorly aligned with those of taxpayers.
Bringing in outside firms to do turnkey rail solutions does not have a good history, generally because non-local prime contractors want to do things the way they do in their home countries, which often isn't economical, or even possible, elsewhere. Bring in a Japanese, Chinese, or European high-speed rail prime contractor and they'll want to build a system using parts that aren't widely available in the US (think metric vs. imperial fasteners and go way up from there), which will make construction and maintenance very expensive.
[0] https://pedestrianobservations.com (this is not my blog)
https://www.insider.co.uk/news/edinburgh-tram-inquiry-john-c...
France, Germany and Spain have a skilled railbuilding workforce...
The expansion of the network been consistently well delivered over the last ~decade.
The Airport Line opened a year ahead of schedule,[1] the Trafford Park line eight months ahead of schedule,[2] and the Second City Crossing was only a year behind it's aspirational opening date because of the discovery of a crypt buried under where a new station was being built.[3]
I think this is mainly because there has been a pipeline of new projects enabling both the contractors and TfGM to retain skilled engineering and project management staff.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Metrolink
[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-29879147
[2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-51801265
[3] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-30779807
Texas is about to build their own bullet train: https://www.texascentral.com/. It'll be the same technology as the Japanese Shinkansen.
> In 2014, it was announced[71] that Texas Central Railway would build a ~300-mile (~480 km) long line using the N700 series rolling stock. The trains are proposed to operate at over 320 km/h (200 mph). source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinkansen#United_States
The difference between Texas and California is that the bullet train being built in Texas will be a private venture. It will be interesting to witness the difference in cost, quality and construction speed between the two states. It will be a test to see which state's economic and regulatory environment is more conducive for large-scale construction projects.
It's like tipping. No one reports cash tips. IRS looks the other way. Why? It's a tax credit to these workers in that industry.
Nobody gets rich when government workers do something, it’s outsourcing which enables significant wealth transfer from government to private individuals. That creates huge incentives and means it’s those same companies try very hard to influence the rules.
A fraction of those government workers are people for whom the politicians intervened to alter the hiring process in their favor. You're heads in the sand if you think the politicians aren't getting favors in return either up front or later.
The difference between in-house and contracting out is only the difference between lump sum and a monthly check.
By comparison thousands of people at federal contacting companies are making over 1 Million per year. Further those companies pull in billions in profits.