California bullet train Chief Executive Jeff Morales will leave the agency in June, ending a five-year tenure that produced mixed results in the $64 billion project's progress.
An announcement by the California High-Speed Rail Authority on Friday did not give a reason for Morales' departure, but quoted Gov. Jerry Brown as saying, "Jeff was instrumental at a crucial point in time and led California's high-speed rail project through a very challenging period."
Morales' exit comes amid an exodus of top officials at the authority, including its chief administrative officer, its chief deputy and chief information officer, among others.
Morales stepped into the job shortly after Brown signaled that he would strongly back the project in 2012 and began installing his own representatives on the rail authority board.
But the project over the last five years has fallen years behind schedule, encountered growing opposition by Republicans and floundered in its efforts to secure funding. In December, the Federal Railroad Administration warned that the cost for building the first construction segment, covering 118 miles in the Central Valley, could increase by 50 percent to about $10 billion.
But Morales and rail board Chairman Dan Richard said the estimate was merely a risk analysis and was wrong.
