Latest news with #HighSpeedRailAuthority
New York Times
15 hours ago
- Business
- New York Times
Trump's Proposed Cut Would Deal Serious Setback to California High-Speed Rail
The Trump administration's plan, announced this week, to terminate $4 billion in grants to California's bullet train project could delay the start of even limited passenger operations on the nation's largest infrastructure project for what some analysts said could be as long as a decade. Even if the state can eventually win a legal challenge or a future president elects to restore the money, the project, already plagued with delays and funding shortages, is facing one of the most serious setbacks in its 17-year history. The project to link Los Angeles and San Francisco with a high-speed train that could make the trip in two hours and 40 minutes has already been scaled back numerous times, as costs spiraled and construction schedules faced repeated delays. Until now, however, the California High-Speed Rail Authority always had enough money in the bank to take incremental steps forward. But over the last four years, the state has drawn down almost all of a $9 billion bond that voters approved in 2008. Losing the federal grants will put the project on a near starvation diet to complete even the limited, 171-mile initial segment in the Central Valley, linking Merced and Bakersfield, both of which are far from the state's major population centers. 'I don't think we are going to see electric trains running on track from Merced to Bakersfield for a long, long time,' said Louis Thompson, a railroad veteran who spent more than a decade as chairman of a state-appointed peer review panel for the rail project. 'Not in 10 years with no federal money. This is reality, and reality is painful.' If the Transportation Department moves forward with terminating the grants next month, as it has said it intends to do, it is likely that California will file suit to challenge the decision, a case that could drag on for years. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Epoch Times
08-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
Trump Says Federal Government Won't Fund California's High-Speed Rail Project
President Donald Trump said the federal government will not continue to pay for California's high-speed rail, calling the costly and delayed project 'out of control' during a meeting with Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney on May 6. The president said he told Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy about his decision. 'That train is the worst cost overrun I've ever seen,' Trump told reporters Tuesday. 'It's totally out of control. It's a stupid project that should have never been built. 'I told our new secretary of transportation we're not going to pay for that thing,' he added. Gov. Gavin Newsom's office said ending the project now would be wasteful, Villaseńor said. 'With 50 major structures built, walking away now as we enter the track-laying phase would be reckless—wasting billions already invested and letting job killers cede a generational infrastructure advantage to China,' spokesman Daniel Villaseñor told The Epoch Times in an email. Related Stories 1/9/2025 12/23/2024 Construction is expected to start this year on a 171-mile section of the Central California route from Merced to Bakersfield. This stretch was expected to cost But funding came up short again this year. The High Speed Rail Authority asked lawmakers to provide another $7 billion by June 2026 to begin the first stretch. In February, Trump announced his administration planned to Since its inception, the project has been Crews build the Hanford Viaduct over Highway 198 as part of the California High Speed Rail project in Hanford, Calif., on Feb. 12, 2025. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images No tracks have been laid, but officials At an event in January, Newsom said his administration remained committed to the project in response to criticisms. 'To the cynics that are filled with cynicism that stand on the sidelines and don't engage, we're here making this work,' Newsom said. 'Finally, we're at the point where we're going to start laying down this track in the next couple years.' The state envisioned the railway to span 463 miles and run from San Francisco to Los Angeles. According to Jamey Matalka, the authority's chief financial officer, about $13.8 billion has been spent on the project so far, of which about 23 percent was federal funding. The prior Trump administration terminated a federal agreement in 2019 to provide nearly $1 billion for the project, saying the authority had failed to make reasonable progress. In 2021, the Biden administration reversed the decision and increased the funding to over $3 billion. Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks in Los Angeles on Sept. 25, 2024. Newsom's spokesman said shutting down the state's high-speed rail project would be wasteful. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times California state Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones criticized the rail project in February. 'Californians cannot afford to continue building this train to nowhere. Defund the high speed rail!' Jones According to an Emerson College The poll included California's registered voters and was conducted Feb. 10 and 11. Emerson College is in Boston.
