California governor vows to fight Trump's $5.1b high-speed rail rescission

Straits Times

4 hours ago

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The announcement added yet another hurdle to the 16-year effort to link Los Angeles and San Francisco by a three-hour train ride.
WASHINGTON - California Governor Gavin Newsom on July 17 vowed to fight an 'illegal' move by President Donald Trump's administration to cancel US$4 billion (S$5.1 billion) in federal grants for the state's ambitious but much-delayed high-speed rail project.
Mr Trump's announcement on July 16 added yet another hurdle to the 16-year effort to link Los Angeles and San Francisco by a three-hour train ride, a project that would deliver the fastest passenger rail service in the United States.
Mr Newsom said the move by Mr Trump's Transportation Department came as the high-speed rail project was on the verge of laying track, with 'active construction' under way on the initial 171-mile segment between Bakersfield and Merced in California's politically conservative Central Valley.
The rail system, whose first US$10 billion bond issue was approved by California voters in 2008, has built more than 50 major railway structures, including bridges, overpasses and viaducts, and completed more than 60 miles (97km) of guideway.
State Attorney General Rob Bonta told reporters on July 17 he was 'poised to take imminent action' on the issue, indicating the dispute would end up in court.
'California is putting all options on the table to fight this illegal action,' Mr Newsom said in a statement.
The funding cancellation marked the latest confrontation between the Republican president and a Democratic governor widely viewed as a leading contender for his party's 2028 White House nomination.
The two men have clashed over issues from transgender athletes and electric car rules to the use of National Guard troops during Los Angeles protests and even egg prices.
'Legally binding agreements'
Mr Ian Choudri, chief executive officer of the California High Speed Rail Authority, said that canceling the federal rail grants 'without cause isn't just wrong, it's illegal'.
'These are legally binding agreements, and the authority has met every obligation, as confirmed by repeated federal reviews, as recently as February 2025,' Mr Choudri said, adding that the program has created some 15,500 jobs.
The Federal Railroad Administration issued a 315-page report in June finding the project was plagued by missed deadlines, budget shortfalls and questionable ridership projections.
Choudri's rail authority has called those conclusions 'misguided', saying they failed to reflect 'substantial progress made to deliver high-speed rail in California'.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy chided the project for having failed to lay a single mile of track after spending US$15 billion over 16 years. But Mr Choudri said installing track is a final step after land acquisition, environmental clearances and construction of supporting structures.
Still, the project has faced its share of setbacks.
The San Francisco-to-Los Angeles route was initially supposed to be completed by 2020 for US$33 billion. But the projected cost has since risen to US$89 billion to US$128 billion, and the start of service is estimated no sooner than 2030.
As designed, the system would feature electric locomotives traveling at up to 354kmh, powered entirely by renewable energy. Planners said it would eliminate 200 million miles driven by vehicles on highways.
'We have to pull the plug'
A second phase of the project called for extending the rail line north to Sacramento and south to San Diego. A separate project plans to link Los Angeles and Las Vegas with high-speed rail.
Mr Duffy said on July 17 that he was confident the Trump administration will defeat any lawsuit challenging the department's move.
'We have to pull the plug,' he told reporters outside the department's headquarters.
In 2021, Democratic President Joe Biden restored a US$929 million grant for the project that Trump revoked in 2019 during his first term in office after calling the project a 'disaster'.
State Assembly member Corey Jackson, a Southern California Democrat who has questioned the project's soaring costs, said Newsom's call to fight the funding cut could galvanise support for Democrats from organised labour and voters in the area where the first railway jobs would be created despite its Republican leanings.
'The people of San Joaquin Valley will now know that their economic engine is coming from the Democratic Party,' Mr Jackson said. 'This is also a message to our labour friends. Democrats continue to deliver these high-paying jobs. Republicans continue to try to kill them.'
Mr Rufus Jeffris, senior vice-president of the Bay Area Council, a business-sponsored policy group in the San Francisco area, pointed to economic benefits associated with high-speed rail and called the funding cut unfortunate. REUTERS