(AFP) – The Trump administration intends to pull some $4 billion in federal funding from California’s long-delayed high-speed rail project, transportation officials say. The announcement Wednesday by the Department of Transportation follows a report by federal railroad regulators, which concluded the project to link the state’s megacities Los Angeles and San Francisco was rife with “missed deadlines, budget shortfalls, and overrepresentation of projected ridership.”
“I promised the American people we would be good stewards of their hard-earned tax dollars,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement. “This report exposes a cold, hard truth: CHSRA has no viable path to complete this project on time or on budget,” he added, referring to California High-Speed Rail Authority. Duffy said California’s rail agency has 37 days to respond to the findings of the review before the two grants worth some $4 billion would be terminated.
CHSRA said it strongly disagreed with Federal Railroad Administration’s conclusions, adding they “do not reflect the substantial progress made.” “We remain committed to completing the nation’s first true HSR system & will fully address + correct the record in our response to the FRA’s notice,” the rail authority said.
California’s Democratic lawmakers also strongly denounced the decision by President Donald Trump’s Republican administration. “For the millions of Californians left to pick up the tab for Trump’s reckless trade wars and rising costs of living, today’s announcement is devastating,” Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff said in a statement.
Despite being the world’s largest economy, the United States does not have high-speed rail lines and the California project has been 15 years in the making. Another high-speed rail line is planned to open in 2028 in the neighboring state of Nevada, connecting Las Vegas to Los Angeles in time for the Summer Olympics hosted by the United States.
© 2024 AFP
