By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration said on Thursday it is opening a review into whether to rescind about $4 billion awarded to California’s High-Speed Rail project. Voters approved $10 billion for the project in 2008 but the costs have risen sharply and President Donald Trump has sharply criticized the effort. The […]
U.S.
US opens probe into whether to rescind $4 billion in California high-speed rail grants
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By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration said on Thursday it is opening a review into whether to rescind about $4 billion awarded to California’s High-Speed Rail project.
Voters approved $10 billion for the project in 2008 but the costs have risen sharply and President Donald Trump has sharply criticized the effort. The Transportation Department under former President Joe Biden awarded the project about $4 billion.
The full project was initially estimated to cost around $40 billion but has now jumped from $89 billion to $128 billion.
California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Ian Choudri said the agency welcomes the investigation.
“With multiple independent federal and state audits completed, every dollar is accounted for, and we stand by the progress and impact of this project,” he said. “California’s high-speed rail is 171 miles under active construction, with over 50 major structures completed, 14,700 jobs created, and more than 880 small businesses engaged.”
In 2021, Biden restored a $929 million grant for California’s high-speed rail Trump revoked in 2019, calling the project a “disaster.”
The Federal Railroad Administration said it had initiated the review at the direction of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy over the funds to build the segment in the California Central Valley between Merced and Bakersfield.
The entire San Francisco-to-Los Angeles project was initially supposed to be completed by 2020 for $33 billion, USDOT said, but the Merced-to-Bakersfield segment alone will cost more than the original total, USDOT said.
“For too long, taxpayers have subsidized the massively over-budget and delayed California High-Speed Rail project,” Duffy said. “If not, I will have to consider whether that money could be given to deserving infrastructure projects elsewhere in the United States.”
USDOT cited a report that the Merced-to-Bakersfield segment alone has a funding gap of at least $6.5 billion.
Duffy separately praised the $12 billion Brightline West Las Vegas to Southern California high-speed rail project that received $3 billion in USDOT grants under Biden. The Las Vegas to Los Angeles project aims to finish before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Richard Chang and Diane Craft)