Donald Trump said Wednesday that the Department of Transportation is withdrawing $4 billion in government funds for California’s high-speed rail project.
The department said there is no viable avenue for California’s high-speed rail project and it is considering potential withdrawal of additional funds related to the project.
The Federal Railroad Administration released a 315-page report last month, citing missed deadlines, budget shortages and suspicious passenger forecasts.
A key issue cited is that California has not yet identified $7 billion in additional funding to establish the initial 171-mile segment between Mercedes and Bakersfield, California.
The California High Speed Rail System is a planned two-stage 800-mile (1,287 km) system with a speed of up to 220mph, designed to connect San Francisco to Los Angeles/Anaheim, and in the second phase, extending north to Sacramento and south to San Dieago.
California’s High Speed Rail Administration said it had previously disagree with the government’s conclusions, “This is misleading and does not reflect the substantial progress in delivering high-speed rail in California.”
It noted that California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal extends funding for at least $1 billion per year in the Legislature at least one year to “provide the necessary resources to complete the initial operational department of the project.”
Authorities pointed out in May that there was active civil construction 119 miles from the state’s central valley.
“News and California’s high-speed rail clumsy are the definition of government incompetence and possible corruption,” said Transport Secretary Sean Duffy.
Newsom answered on social media: “Not from the advice of the person who can’t keep the plane in the sky.”
Voters approved the project $10 billion in 2008, but the cost rose sharply. The transportation department under former President Joe Biden has awarded the project about $4 billion.
The entire San Francisco-to-Los Angeles project was originally supposed to have completed $33 billion in 2020, but it has now jumped from $89 billion to $128 billion.
In 2021, Biden resumed a $929 million grant for California’s high-speed rail, which Trump revoked in 2019 after the Republican president called the project a “disaster.”
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