California’s high -speed rail system is under construction in the central valley, but it takes tens of billions of dollars to connect to San Francisco and Los Angeles.
California High-Speed Rail Authority
California Governor Gavin Newsom said the state has sued Trump’s administration following the announcement of Transport Minister Sean Duffy Reconstruction of $ 4 billion From the federal funds previously awarded for the construction of high speed rail lines, the latest challenge for the country’s most expensive infrastructure project.
Duffy this week said that the decision to take on the funds awarded by the Federal Railway Administration during Obama and Biden’s administrations came after a compliance revision that set the California high -speed railway authority. He also referred to the failure of the state to identify a sustainable source of funds to cover the full cost of San Francisco’s connection to Los Angeles, which is estimated to be $ 135 billion as a justification for the cancellation of grants.
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Newsom’s office said his lawsuit claims that the cancellation of the agreements is “the political punishment, motivated by President Trump’s animus to California and the high -speed rail, not by events on the spot”. Currently, construction work is underway in a 119 -mile section of the central valley of the state, between the cities of Fresno and Bakersfield. Ian Choudri, the new CEO of Bullet Train and a rail and infrastructure veteran is developing a new business plan aimed at reducing costs, accelerating construction and adding private sector partners.
“This is just a heartless attack on the central valley that will put real jobs and living means on the line,” Newsom told an online statement. “We try to stop Trump from actively derailing America’s only railway rail.”
During his first term, Trump received the $ 900 million award in the state, quoting similar reasons. President Joe Biden restored the grant and provided an additional $ 3.1 billion for the project from the funds intended for high -speed rail rails to the bilateral infrastructure law. Brightline West, a private railway project aimed at connecting Las Vegas with suburban Los Angeles, also got $ 3 billion in federal rail funds and increasing at least $ 9 billion more. It is preparing for the future line that will run through the Mojave Desert, but has not started heavy construction.
The US today does not have high -speed trains capable of hitting speeds of 200 miles per hour or more, as opposed to dozens of nations, such as Japan, China, South Korea, France, Germany and Spain. California’s work, approved by voters in 2008 with a $ 10 billion bond for initial manufacturing expenses, had an estimated $ 45 billion prior to the launch and acquisition of the land. The slow, tiring work of buying hundreds of miles of real estate, along with extensive environmental revisions, added more than a decade to its construction timetable and caused the cost of triple.
Although the route is not placed, the construction that employs more than 15,000 people is active in a 171 mile section of the future, with over 50 bridges, overflows and building roads and 60 miles of driver completed, according to the governor’s office.
“The cancellation of these grants without cause is not just wrong – it’s illegal,” Choudri said in a statement. “These are legally binding agreements and the Authority has fulfilled any obligation, as confirmed by repetitive federal reviews, just in February 2025.”
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