President Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Wednesday that about $4 billion in unspent federal funding for California’s significantly delayed and overbudget high-speed rail project has been terminated.
“To the Law abiding, Tax paying, Hardworking Citizens of the United States of America, I am thrilled to announce that I have officially freed you from funding California’s disastrously overpriced, ‘HIGH SPEED TRAIN TO NOWHERE,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“This boondoggle, led by the incompetent Governor of California, Gavin Newscum, has cost Taxpayers Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we have received NOTHING in return except Cost Overruns,” the president fumed, using his preferred nickname for Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom. “The Railroad we were promised still does not exist, and never will.”
Originally passed as a ballot initiative in 2008, the 800-mile rail line was supposed to be completed in two phases on a $33 billion budget by 2020, with a main line connecting San Francisco with Los Angeles and branches stretching north to Sacramento and south to San Diego.
By 2019, Newsom announced that there was no path forward after costs ballooned to $77.3 billion and the project was drawn down to a 171-mile section between Merced and Bakersfield.
California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) officials later applied for $8 billion in grants from former President Joe Biden’s 2021 infrastructure law to help complete that Central Valley Segment, which has since been abbreviated further — to just 119 miles.
CHSRA blew through nearly $7 billion in taxpayer funds over a decade and a half without laying a single foot of track, according to the Department of Transportation, which notes the projected cost of the project has since risen to $135 billion.
Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) acting administrator Drew Feeley notified CHSRA CEO Ian Choudri of the decision to “de-obligate” federal funds for the project in a letter Wednesday.
Feeley noted that FRA determined that CHSRA “breached the commitments made” in a 2010 agreement with federal government for funding and based on California’s “inability to complete” the project by a revised Dec. 31, 2033 deadline, the project “does not adequately serve the purpose of the statute under which the FY10 Agreement was authorized and funded.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, whose department oversees FRA, has further directed the agency to consult with the Department of Justice on possibly clawing back federal funds for the failed high-speed rail project.
“This is California’s fault,” Duffy said in a statement. “Governor Newsom and the complicit Democrats have enabled this waste for years.”
“Federal dollars are not a blank check – they come with a promise to deliver results,” the transportation secretary continued. “After over a decade of failures, CHSRA’s mismanagement and incompetence has proven it cannot build its train to nowhere on time or on budget.”
“It’s time for this boondoggle to die. President Trump and I will always fight to ensure your tax dollars only go to projects that accomplish great, big, beautiful things.”
Duffy’s efforts to pull the plug on the project date back to February, when he announced a review of the CHSRA’s plan after the authority released a report indicating that it would be unable to meet future deadlines.
In June, Duffy released a report determining that there was “no viable path to complete this project on time or on budget.” The compliance review, conducted by FRA, also found that CHSRA’s high speed rail project was in default of the terms of its federal grant awards, missed deadlines, budget shortfalls and overprojected ridership.
Unsatisfied with CHSRA’s response to the compliance review, the Trump administration officially scrapped all future federal funding for California high-speed rail on Tuesday.
“This project was Severely Overpriced, Overregulated, and NEVER DELIVERED,” Trump said. “Thanks to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, not a SINGLE penny in Federal Dollars will go towards this Newscum SCAM ever again.”
“This was an ill-conceived and unnecessary project, and a total waste of Taxpayer money — But no more!”
Newsom teased that California may challenge the Trump administration’s action in court.
“Round of applause for [Trump] and [Duffy] on handing China the future and abandoning the Central Valley — again!” the Golden State governor wrote on X. “But sorry to disappoint: We’re not letting that happen.”
“[California High Speed Rail Authority] is entering the track-laying phase and actively building across 171 miles — with 50 major railway structures and 60 miles of guideway already completed,” Newsom claimed. “We will be exploring all options to fight this illegal action.”
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