The Trump administration has cancelled billions of dollars in funding for California’s high-speed rail projects after state agencies refused to assess the federal government’s failures for the project.
The Federal Railroad Administration subtracted $4 billion in funding on Wednesday aimed at building in Central Valley.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy also asked the Federal Railway Administration to consider other grants related to the project. The agency said it will discuss with the Justice Department about the possibility of retrieving other funds.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and Choudri questioned the legality of the administration’s decision.
“Trump wants to pass China on its future and abandon the central valley. We won’t allow him,” Newsom said in a statement Wednesday. “We’re miles ahead of everyone else as projects like the Texas High Speed Rail have failed to take off. We’re now in the track ray stage and building the only high speed rail in America. California has all our options on the table to combat this illegal activity.”
Choudri said the funding commitment is a “legally binding contract” and that the high-speed rail authorities meet its obligations.
Duffy denounced the national leader for “mismanagement” in the train’s plans.
“Governor Newsom and his accomplices have made this waste possible for many years. The federal dollar is not a blank check. They promise to bring about results. After more than a decade of failure, [the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s] Duffy said in a statement Wednesday.
In X, Duffy said Newsom and California were “the definition of government incompetence and corruption.” In response, Newsom said he “has not been given advice from a man who can’t keep the plane in the air.”
Trump, a critic of the project’s voice that vowed to pay it back, said the decision to withdraw funds would save taxpayers money.
“I am excited to announce that it has officially been released from funding California’s miserable heights of “nowhere high speed trains,” Trump wrote on social media. “The railway we were promised to have yet to exist and never exists. This project was heavily expensive, overregulated and never delivered.”
The high-speed rail project was expected to be completed by 2020, but is out of budget of about $100 billion from the budget from the original $33 billion proposal, about $100 billion. Part of the line from Los Angeles to San Francisco is not yet complete, and so far, construction is limited to Central Valley.
The Trump administration began reviewing the project in February after Republican lawmakers called for an investigation. In a 310-page compliance review released in June, the federal government cited budget shortages, missed deadlines and misleading predicted riderships, finding that there is “no viable path” for the train.
Choudri sent two letters to the Trump administration in response to the findings of the review. In a letter sent earlier this month, Choudri called the assessment inaccurate, saying that the administration relied on old information to endure conclusions and misrepresented the facts.
“Faulty input led to flawed output,” writes Choudri. “As opposed to relying on relevant information and documents provided by the authorities, FRA relies on outdated information, unreliable and unsupported third-party sources, and incomplete and flawed analysis to support their conclusions.”
Choudri asked the Trump administration for another meeting in early August and a decision to delay. The responses did not meet the Railway Bureau’s concerns, the agency said.
The High Speed Railroad Bureau and state legislators are calling for private public partnerships to fund projects other than government support. The state also provides $1 billion in annual funding for the project, creating thousands of jobs in Central Valley and is at the heart of several communities’ business reform plans.
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