May 7, 2025
The cities that California’s high-speed rail train is going through are politically red as red can be, with many residents voting for Trump. And now it’s coming back to haunt them.
The NYT is reporting that President Trump said Tuesday that the federal government will not pay for California’s high-speed train, another potential wrinkle in a troubled project that has repeatedly blown past its budget and completion timeline since voters approved funding in 2008.
“That train is the worst cost overrun I’ve ever seen,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during a joint appearance with Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada. “It’s, like, totally out of control.” He added: “This government is not going to pay.”
The president’s comments came three months after his administration launched a review of how California is spending a $3.1 billion federal grant issued under the Biden administration. That audit has not yet been completed.
The project was originally envisioned as a $33 billion bullet train that would, by 2020, whisk people between San Francisco and Los Angeles in less than three hours. But plans have been stymied by inflation, lawsuits over land acquisitions and lengthy environmental reviews, along with repeated tussles over funding. The cost has more than tripled, the scope of the line has been scaled back and completion is now slated for 2033 for an initial segment that connects two smaller cities in the Central Valley.
Construction on that portion is underway, with Gov. Gavin Newsom visiting Bakersfield in January to tout progress on the project.
“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,” Izzy Gardon, the governor’s spokesman, said in response to Mr. Trump’s comments.
Mr. Newsom rode China’s high-speed rail on a visit to that country in 2023, highlighting the possibilities of the technology as the train whizzed through the countryside on the way to Shanghai.
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