


The Trump administration said there is no viable path to completing California’s High-Speed Rail project and warned it may rescind $4 billion in federal funds.
A report from the Federal Railroad Administration released Wednesday said California missed deadlines, has budget shortfalls, and projected questionable ridership numbers. The report said California “conned the taxpayer out of its $4 billion investment, with no viable plan to deliver even that partial segment on time.”
Recommended Stories
- Newark airport to open runway closed for construction 13 days ahead of schedule
- The lovable heresies of Amazon’s electric pickup
- Steube threatens to pull funding from WMATA unless it renames to WMAGA
The Department of Transportation gave the state until mid-July to respond and then said the Trump administration could terminate the grants.
“I am directing my staff to review and determine whether the CHSRA has followed through on the commitments it made to receive billions of dollars in federal funding. If not, I will have to consider whether that money could be given to deserving infrastructure projects elsewhere in the United States,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement.
In 2008, voters approved the $10 billion California High-Speed Rail System. The project planned for an 800-mile system in two phases, the first connecting San Francisco to Los Angeles and Anaheim, and the second extending north to Sacramento and south to San Diego, with trains traveling up to 220 miles per hour.
PENTAGON AND FAA CAN’T SEEM TO GET ON SAME PAGE OVER AIR SAFETY
According to the FRA report, the project was supposed to be completed by 2020 for $33 billion. That cost has now risen from $89 billion to $128 billion. The report notes California has not identified the $4 billion in additional funding needed to build an initial segment between Merced and Bakersfield.
The DOT awarded the project about $4 billion under former President Joe Biden. In 2021, Biden also restored a $929 million grant that President Donald Trump revoked during his first term.