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South China Morning Post

Japan-led Texas train project derailed by US – is ‘liberal idea' the reason?

The United States has withdrawn nearly US$64 million in grants for a proposed high-speed rail link in Texas using Japan 's bullet train technology in a decision seen as President Donald Trump's aversion to public transport projects over high cost and their association with the previous administration. Advertisement The cancellation effectively ends plans for the Japan-backed project to connect Houston and Dallas – a distance of roughly 385km – in under 90 minutes using Central Japan Railway Co's famed shinkansen system, with US transport officials declaring the venture 'unrealistic' as the anticipated costs have exceeded US$40 billion. 'This project is a waste of taxpayer funds,' Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Monday, announcing the termination of support for the Amtrak Texas high-speed rail corridor. An analyst suggested the funding was cancelled because mass transport systems were perceived by the present American administration as being 'a liberal idea'. First proposed by a private US railway firm in 2009 and with a launch targeted in the early years of the 2020s, progress has been put back due to an inability to secure adequate funding, delayed acquisition of the land necessary for the tracks and associated infrastructure and changes in the management of the project. Advertisement Kazuto Suzuki, a professor of science and technology policy at Tokyo University who was in Dallas earlier this month, said speculation among businesspeople in the Japan-America Society of Dallas/Fort Worth was that the project would fall victim to the drastic cost-cutting efforts of the Trump administration.