California Drops Lawsuit Over Trump’s Funding Cut to State’s Bullet Train
In conjunction with this move, the California High-Speed Rail Authority launched an initiative to seek out private investors.
The last time Legal Insurrection reported on the construction of the California high-speed train system, President Donald Trump had canceled about $4 billion in grants.
I have been chronicling the saga of the bullet train for over 12 years at Legal Insurrection. “Bullet” in this project’s description is only accurate if it is being used to describe the lethality to the state’s budget in terms of waste, fraud, and abuse.
This fact was so noted by Trump himself in the July 2025 announcement.
“Thanks to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, not a SINGLE penny in Federal Dollars will go towards this Newscum SCAM ever again.”https://t.co/iPCwnvNBfr
— Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) July 17, 2025
Shortly after it happened, California’s officials immediately did what they always do: Sued the Trump administration. However, now it has reversed course and withdrawn the challenge.
Attorney General Rob Bonta of California filed a notice of dismissal on Tuesday, ending the federal lawsuit that the state had brought in July in the Eastern District of California.
The defendants in the case were the Transportation Department and the Federal Railroad Administration, which had decided in June to cut the funding.
The Transportation Department said a compliance review found that California had failed to meet federal grant requirements, citing costly changes to contracts, lowered ridership forecasts and missed deadlines.
In an official announcement that the lawsuit had been dropped, the State Attorney General’s office noted that California will seek other sources of funding while also slamming the Trump administration.
“This action reflects the State’s assessment that the federal government is not a reliable, constructive, or trustworthy partner in advancing high-speed rail in California,” an authority spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“The Federal Railroad Administration stated that all work performed by the Authority – whether undertaken as part of cooperative agreements or otherwise – remains ‘at risk’ and may not receive funding. Combined with the Administration’s persistent lack of good-faith engagement, this made clear that the federal government is unlikely to uphold its commitments to California. As a result, the State has opted to move forward without the Trump administration. We regret that they will not share in California’s success,” the spokesperson added.
In conjunction with this move, the California High-Speed Rail Authority launched an initiative to seek out private investors.
On December 19, the California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) initiated a process to bring private investors and developers to the Authority by summer 2026 in an effort to deliver the nation’s first true high-speed rail project faster, smarter, and evaluate new strategies to commercialize assets through private investment at the earliest possible opportunity, supporting future high-speed rail segment delivery.
The Authority’s issuance of a Request for Qualifications for a Co-Development Agreement (CDA) is aimed at selecting a private partner to evaluate opportunities to invest and deliver the project faster and more efficiently, while commercializing assets (e.g. station facilities, track access, fiber, power, real estate, and others) at the earliest possible opportunity.
It will be fascinating to see if it can find any funding at this point.
When California’s high‑speed “bullet train” first went before voters as Proposition 1A on the November 4, 2008, statewide ballot, it authorized $9.95 billion in bonds as seed money for the project. At that time, the full San Francisco–Los Angeles/Anaheim Phase 1 system was commonly described to the public as costing on the order of about $33–$45 billion, with service between the Bay Area and Southern California anticipated around 2020.
🚆 This 'milestone' is utterly laughable and a slap in the face to every California taxpayer! Back in 2008, voters were promised a game-changing high-speed rail linking LA to SF in just 2 h 40 min, fully operational by 2020, at a total cost of only $33 billion. It was sold as a… https://t.co/iLWWiBXJqa pic.twitter.com/9V89neop1e
— Houman David Hemmati, MD, PhD (@houmanhemmati) December 13, 2025
I voted “No” on that measure back then, because I could see it would be the spectacular failure it has turned out to be. Presently, the estimated cost is closer to $130 billion, and there is no hard end date for the project, beyond projections of sometime in the early 2030’s.
However, given the recent news, perhaps state officials anticipate that backing can be found from Somali day care centers?
Maybe California can find new funding via Somali day care centers? https://t.co/P2Cwz6TWRY
— Leslie Eastman ☥ (@Mutnodjmet) December 29, 2025
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Comments
What a hoot! Private investors?! Good luck on THAT!
When communism doesn’t work, try fascism.
Lenin called it the NEP.
Only people with more money than sense would even invest, and that would be a hard sell.
Paging Bill Gates
Newsome will join China’s Belt’s and Roads to get it done. Just wait for it.
Probably dropped lawsuit to avoid discovery of where money went. Need a full audit!
Very shrewd observation.
You beat me to it.
Exactly my thought. The graft might get exposed in enough detail to foster charges and clawbacks. Might even be able to publicly show how the money funded political purposes. So Gavin drops it since dropping it mostly screws the average Californian and no one of real importance.
Even if this boondoggle were completed there is no doubt in my mind that I would beat the train handily with my car (maybe even my bicycle!).
It’s too bad that someone hasn’t invented a means of travel between LA & SF that could get you there comfortably in about an hour. If only you could fly really fast between the cities – wouldn’t that be awesome?
One hour to fly it and two hours minimum before then to go through security theater and then sit in a waiting room full of screaming children and CNN blurring on television that you can’t turn off. No thanks.
It’s enough to chafe yer fur.
Grumble-grr… Yes. It is. Fur shur! Dianne Schuur!
Which is why I drive everywhere.
More cost effective.
I don’t know about that, with the price of hotels and dining these days, but it is more relaxing than dealing with the TSA clowns. That end of the above mention screaming children.
And the “high-speed” rail would have the same TSA agents, waiting areas, and delays throughout the facilities.
The only place I’ve encountered security personnel that are worse than TSA was at London Heathrow. There are notorious for it. Every other country I’ve been to the security person personnel has been courteous and highly professional. And above all, they’ve been respectful.
“It’s a trap.”
Subotai Bahadur
I envision Subotai in the command seat on the Mon Calamari cruiser uttering the famous line.
In the early 1970’s they tried to build a cross state barge canal here in Florida. It was cross from the west coast to the east coast and join the John’s River below Jacksonville. A boondoggle that was killed before it was a third completed. California knows there is no more money from Washington. There will be no private investors. It’s a 25 billion boondoggle. There should still be an investigation as to how the money was spent that came in the form of federal grants. By the way, the cross Florida
Canal led to the fall of the “Pork Chop” gang in Tallahassee.
The entire thing was a gift to construction companies and the trade unions, neither of which cared if the entire boondoggle carried a single passenger or saw a single car placed on the as-yet-unlaid tracks.
Don’t kill the job!
Said every union worker on every public works project
I thought that project was killed by the Greens.
But wouldn’t that have split the state and cause the southern portion to drift away and hit Cuba?
I should consult with Hank Johnson.
They can’t even dupe the federal government (the world’s biggest sucker) anymore, how can they seriously believe they’re going to attract private investment?
“This action reflects the State’s assessment that the federal government is not a reliable, constructive, or trustworthy partner in advancing high-speed rail in California.”
——————
Translation from the greasy, dishonest Dhimmi-crat tongue:
“We corrupt Dhimmi-crats are upset that the federal government, under President Trump and Secretary Duffy, refuse to use taxpayers’ money to fund our profligate, do-nothing, “make-work” racketeering gift to California unions and other, cherished Dhimmi-crat cronies.”
Commiefornia’s “high-speed rail” project is a brazen and transparent scam/grift/theft, greater than anything that the American mafia families perpetrated. Federal audits and RICO charges should be assessed against all the major players and beneficiaries.
“High speed” doesn’t describe the rail. It describes how fast they can spend the money.
LOL; this is true.
BTW, no private investing firm or venture capital firm possessing a scintilla of financial acumen and shrewdness, will willingly fund such a stupid, non-fiscally viable, structurally non-profitable, money-losing venture.
I can see the Chinese offering One Belt One Road money to California.
One major aspect of the project as envisioned was a huge land grab. No doubt it’s just as a public service, but at least one member of the family that is one of California’s biggest real estate developers has been on the bullet trains commission since its formation. Or at least until the last time I checked before I left California for Texas a few years ago.
And, knowing how greasy, vile Newsolini had rolled out the red carpet for communist dictator, Xi, upon his visit to San Francisco, this piece of excrement would be more than happy to take the Chicoms’ blood-stained, dirty cash.
I guess I’ll have to making the joke about having a bridge to sell.
let the teachers union pour money into it …. and the teamsters …. and AFL/CIO…yeah …. and the dock workers …. lol
The perfect place for public sector union funds.
“Sued the Trump administration. However, now it has reversed course and withdrawn the challenge.”
And that’s how you know that discovery would have been catastrophic for them.
The Detroit people mover was projected to carry 67 thousand passengers a day; it carries about 3900 a day and is free of charge to get that many.
Just doing some speculating here, but I imagine that it goes from a place. Nobody wants to be and goes to a place where nobody wants to go. For example, Modesto to Bakersfield, Manteca to Modesto. Stockton to anywhere.
Their timing is way off. You’re supposed to rob people ~before~ you drive them away. Are they going to ask companies that have already left California to pony up?
Maybe they’re counting on the gullibility of the remaining ones. Or perhaps they’re planning in a shakedown, as in “nice little business ya got there. Be a real shame if the state’s version of the EPA or other watch dog found out about [fill in the blank], or if the fire department was unavailable in case, heaven forfend, there might be a little fire.”
I think a plaintiff can only file a notice of voluntary dismissal if the defendant hasn’t answered the complaint yet. After that, the plaintiff needs court approval to have the case dismissed. Assuming that’s correct, then the federal government probably hasn’t incurred any substantial legal fees yet.
maga!
reject CA
I also voted no. $10 billion was never going to be enough for what they proposed, but I never expected the estimate to be over $130 billion. At this point I predict that will be exceeded. Not a single mile of track so far, so obviously some pockets have been lined.
I am not a lawyer, but I think the lawsuit was dropped because of the discovery process involved. CA would have had to cough up records (if they have them) showing where the money went and what was produced for the expenditure. They’d rather keep the details of the grift and corruption under wraps and it was worth it to them to forego Fed funding. At least for the term of this last Trump administration. They will be able to keep it on life support with state funding until 2029 when they hope to get a D administration to restore Fed funding.
If it was a good idea, the private sector would have done it. When the US can’t even build TRAIN TRACKS in a timely manner, it tells you all you need to know about our hidebound, sclerotic government.
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