The Trump administration took another swing at California’s high-speed rail project, pulling millions more in funding after withdrawing billions in July.
The FRA pulled $4 billion in funding from the California project in July after a report said the group overseeing the project was unlikely to deliver
Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Trump administration took another swing at California’s high-speed rail project, pulling millions more in funding after withdrawing billions in July.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said the Federal Railroad Administration removed an additional $175 million in federal funding from four projects related to the California project in a statement Tuesday.
Duffy pulled $4 billion in federal funding from the project in July after the FRA released a compliance review report of the project in June in which it concluded the California High-Speed Rail Authority, which runs the project, was not likely to deliver on its end of the agreement.
He said that so far the project, which he has repeatedly referred to as a "boondoggle," has racked up about $15 billion in costs.
On top of stripping the project of millions more in funding, the transportation secretary instructed the FRA to review all obligated grants from the project.
The high-speed rail would travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles in under three hours during its first phase, with future plans to include Sacramento and San Diego. The project’s website says it would total 800 miles and 24 stations.
“As of today, the American people are done investing in California’s failed experiment,” Duffy said in the release. “Instead, my Department will focus on making travel great again by investing in well-managed projects that can make projects like high-speed rail a reality.”
"This is a continuation of the Trump Administration’s illegal, politically motivated, and baseless attack on California High-Speed Rail and Central Valley communities," a California High-Speed Rail Authority spokesperson told Quartz. "The facts are clear: California is delivering the only true high-speed system under construction in North America...While opponents are recycling tired political attacks, California is building the future of American transportation.”
The spokesperson added that this week the authority is "advancing approval" to buy track and system components so it can install high-speed rail along the Central Valley corridor "within the next year."
After the FRA pulled billions in funding from the project, the CHSRA filed a lawsuit to challenge a move that California governor Gavin Newsom called “illegal,” Reuters reported.
Newsom said the removal of funds was "petty, political retribution, motivated by President Trump's personal animus toward California and the high-speed rail project, not the facts on the ground," the outlet reported.
California’s high-speed rail project is just one rumble within an ongoing battle between the Trump administration and California — or, more specifically, the president and Newsom.
Most recently, Trump threatened to sue the state over Newsom’s proposed redistricting ballot measure, which Newsom announced in response to Texas’ congressional redistricting efforts.
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