The saga of California’s High Speed Train to Nowhere continues.
Legal Insurrection readers with really long memories may recall that President Trump audited California’s high-speed rail project back in 2018, during his first term.
At that point, the project had blasted through its budget and now may cost close to $100 billion. The subsequent inspector general report uncovered much that was..problematic. Subsequently, this February, the Trump administration threatened an investigation into the project and how the money was being spent.
In today’s update, a recent report reveals that California received $7 billion in federal funding for its high-speed rail project, but has failed to lay any actual track.
Despite more than a decade of planning and spending, the ambitious project (intended to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco) has faced repeated delays, cost overruns, and bureaucratic hurdles. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy is threatening to cut the funding to the project.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy threatened Wednesday to pull federal grants for California’s High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) after it spent nearly $7 billion in taxpayer funds over a decade and a half without laying a single foot of track.In a 310-page report, Duffy detailed the missed deadlines and stretched budget for the long-running project — and gave the Golden State’s high-speed rail office until July 11 to respond or get around $4 billion in additional grants cut off.“This report exposes a cold, hard truth: CHSRA has no viable path to complete this project on time or on budget,” he said.Originally passed as a ballot initiative in 2008, the 800-mile rail line was supposed to be completed in two phases on a $33 billion budget by 2020, with a main line connecting San Francisco with Los Angeles and branches stretching north to Sacramento and south to San Diego.
The administration is giving California 30 days to respond to the findings of the review before what it said was a likely decision to revoke the funding.
“We don’t want to invest in boondoggles,” Sean Duffy, the transportation secretary, told Fox News. “I want to see high-speed rail in America and why it can’t be built within, you know, time frames that work for the people that invest in these projects makes no sense to me.”The scale of the high-speed train route has been chipped away since the federal government first gave its support to the idea in 2009, the report noted: Initially, the vision for the project was a rail line that would whisk riders from the Bay Area to Los Angeles in less than three hours on some of the fastest trains in the world.
Of course, the local media and Big Government mavens are complaining about the demands. The Los Angeles Times cites all sorts of statistics showing how much support high-speed rail has in this state (supposedly 67% of 1000 registered voters).
“California voters are tired of traffic jams and airport delays,” said Andy Kunz, president and chief executive of the U.S. High Speed Rail Assn. “Support for the California High Speed Rail project is growing as the state’s transportation system continues to grind to a halt.”Rick Harnish, the executive director for the High Speed Rail Alliance, called the review “angering” and said it would only create further roadblocks for the project he believes is critical for the state.“This isn’t just about the Bay Area to L.A. Basin. This is about transportation for the whole state, and it would be the catalyst for making truly financially viable communities, for making families — giving them more economic opportunity. It would just be huge.”Democratic lawmakers have also generally supported the project.
I am sure the Democrats are big on all the union jobs, with all the union dues heading into the coffers.
However, my sampling indicates overwhelming support for Duffy’s move.
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