Trump gets set to defund California’s high-speed rail
California’s embattled high-speed rail project suffered a major setback after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the termination of $4 billion in unspent federal funding by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).
Citing 16 years of failure, no completed high-speed track, and escalating costs, Duffy declared the project, dubbed the “train to nowhere,” a mismanaged and over-budget “boondoggle.”
“This is California’s fault. 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,” Duffy said in a statement.
The announcement followed months of scrutiny after a comprehensive compliance review, plus failed attempts by the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) to address serious project deficiencies.
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“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.”
The review found that zero miles of high-speed track have been laid since ground was broken 10 years ago, and the cost continues to balloon.
President Donald Trump, echoing Duffy’s sentiment, also referred to the project as a “boondoggle.”
“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 in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social.
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Avenue 15 grade separation under construction during a high-speed rail project in Madera County, California, U.S., on Monday, April, 18, 2022. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
“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 Railroad we were promised still does not exist, and never will,” Trump continued.
“This project was Severely Overpriced, Overregulated, and NEVER DELIVERED. 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!”
Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., author of H.R. 213, legislation to prohibit further federal funding for High-Speed Rail, applauded the move.
“California High-Speed Rail is the worst public infrastructure disaster in U.S. history,” Kiley said.
“A project that was supposed to be finished five years ago at a cost of $33 billion is now projected to take until the end of the century at a cost of $130 billion. I am grateful that President Trump and Secretary Duffy are sparing our taxpayers by cutting off federal funding. The state must now follow suit, wind this disastrous project down, and spend our transportation dollars where they are needed: our roads.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom took a jab at Duffy on X, saying he’d take advice from others over the transportation secretary.
“Won’t be taking advice from the guy who can’t keep planes in the sky,” Newsom wrote.
Newsom’s office also released a statement in response to the “Trump administration illegally terminating federal grant agreements funding California high-speed rail.”
“Trump wants to hand China the future and abandon the Central Valley. We won’t let him. With projects like the Texas high-speed rail failing to take off, we are miles ahead of others,” Newsom wrote.
“We’re now in the track-laying phase and building America’s only high-speed rail. California is putting all options on the table to fight this illegal action,” he continued.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) added that it may also pursue recovery of previously disbursed funds and potential legal action.
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The Elkhorn grade separation under construction during a high-speed rail project in Fresno County, California, on Monday, April, 18, 2022. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
In addition to canceling $4 billion in unspent federal funds to CHSRA, Duffy directed FRA to review other obligated and unobligated grants related to the CHSRA project.
The 300-page damning report, released back in June, examined the project and found delays, missed deadlines, mismanagement, waste, skyrocketing costs, budget shortfalls and overrepresentation of projected ridership.
Other key findings revealed that the project faced ongoing — and likely increasing — contractor cost overruns due to delays and that the CHSRA failed to finalize contracts for its high-speed trainsets on time.
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The project was initially touted as a two-phase visionary system connecting Los Angeles to San Francisco, and later north to Sacramento, and south to San Diego.
The report states that despite the money already plowed into the project, there is a $7 billion funding gap to complete a subset of the first phase in the Central Valley from Merced to Bakersfield, known as the Early Operating Segment (EOS).
Since the project’s inception, it has been dramatically reduced from an 800-mile segment to a 171-mile segment.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
