Gov. Gavin Newsom and California legislative leaders on Thursday announced a deal to fund the state’s beleaguered bullet train project with $1 billion annually over the next 20 years.

The funds, should the full Legislature sign off on them, would be enough to complete the initial 171-mile stretch underway in the Central Valley but not enough to build out to population centers in the north and south — let alone complete the entire San Francisco to Los Angeles rail line.

Even so, California High Speed Rail Authority CEO Ian Choudri called it “a historic commitment” of “the largest guaranteed infusion of funding for California’s high-speed rail program to date.”

“This funding agreement resolves all identified funding gaps for the Early Operating Segment in the Central Valley and opens the

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