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From NY Post: 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.
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 800-mile rail line, originally passed in a 2008 a ballot, had a $33 billion budget and an end date of 2020. It was supposed to connect San Francisco to Los Angeles, branching out to reach Sacramento and San Diego as well. But in 2019, California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom admitted the uncomfortable truth: there was no path forward as costs had skyrocketed to $77.3 billion and probable track had shrunk to 171-miles, now connecting Merced and Bakersfield.
CHSRA has applied for $8 billion in grants under former President Joe Biden’s 2021 infrastructure law.
In February of this year, Duffy launched a compliance review of the funding. As of now, “they have not laid any track or started work on signal systems required for train operations,” the review found.
The review also found that the project was looking at another $800 million in additional costs for “environmental and logistical challenges,” and that CHSRA “currently has no credible plan, beyond seeking additional Federal funds, to address this funding gap.”
In remarks related to the findings, Duffy said:
“This report exposes a cold, hard truth: CHSRA has no viable path to complete this project on time or on budget.
“To secure substantial Federal funding, CHSRA represented that it could connect major metropolitan cities in California, but can now only deliver a system that is reduced substantially and delayed significantly, which may connect two random endpoints.
“CHSRA is on notice — If they can’t deliver on their end of the deal, it could soon be time for these funds to flow to other projects that can achieve President Trump’s vision of building great, big, beautiful things again.
“Our country deserves high-speed rail that makes us proud — not boondoogle trains to nowhere.”
Duffy moves to defund California high-speed rail after blistering federal review https://t.co/zgK6mHLZME
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 4, 2025
READ MORE AT NYPost.com.
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