When an engineering firm won a $131 million contract to help design California’s high-speed rail, track, and overhead electrical system, it promised that six key personnel positions would be based in Sacramento full time.
Records obtained by CBS California show the consultants in three of those six key positions never relocated to Sacramento. Instead, taxpayers paid to fly them into the office — one from Texas and two from Denver — in some cases, almost every week.
Records show the senior consultant was only in the office a few days a week, while his hourly billing rate rose nearly 23% under California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Ian Choudri…