The Trump Administration on July 16 removed the $ 4 billion connector in financing of subsidies that had already been awarded the High Speed Railway project in California. The California High Speed High Speed Authority will pursue other ways to move on.
The transport secretary, Sean Duffy, attacked the project and California officials saying “it is time for this boondoggle to die”.
“This is California’s fault,” Duffy stated in a statement. “Governor Newsom and Democratic accomplices have allowed this waste for years. Federal dollars are not a blank control; they have a promise to deliver results. After more than a decade of failures, the mismanagement and incompetence of Chsra have shown that they cannot build their train to anywhere or with a budget.”
In a statement, California governor Gavin Newsom said that the decision to terminate funds was illegal and that the state “put all options on the table” to combat the action.
The two grants premiering are a $ 928 million grant in 2010, and a $ 3.1 million grant granted by 2024. Duffy defended the decision of the Federal Railway Administration (FRA), saying that the initial part of 171 miles of the 800 -kilometer project is almost $ 7 billion from the reduction of $ 35 billion, And that could not be met with the term of the end of 203.
Opposing views
In a letter from July 7 to FRA, Chsra CEO Ian Choudri [project] And revenue operations begin by 2033. “
He said that “the authority has made substantial progress in the project and that its work has again remodeled the central valley”, citing one of the three construction packages completed substantially in the first 119 Merced miles in Bakersfield and the remaining two on the court to obtain an end of 2026. So far, the project has built 54 structures and 70 miles of 59% of the 59% of the railway, Total. “Crucially”, he writes, “authority is scheduled to begin revenue passenger services at the EOS by 2033”.
In the final decision -making letter, Duffy stated that a thorough review of compliance included two opportunities to respond to California, who stated that he did not address important concerns. He said that the report from the Chsra Inspector General in February highlighted serious problems with the project. Everything was added to the Federal Agency, believing that “Chsra simply cannot fulfill his obligations under the subsidy agreement”.
The dowry cited nine findings that led to the final decision, including expenses related to the delays of the project and change orders, the lost deadlines for the hiring of rolling stock exchanges, the funding lagoons, the over -representative driving projections and the belief that there is lack of capacity to deliver the project on time.
In addition to revoking the two federal subsidies, Duffy has directed FRA to review other obligatory and not obligatory grants related to the CHSRA project.
“The Department of Transport will also be consulted with the Department of Justice on the verification of the FRA compliance, including funding potentially related to the California train anywhere and other potential issues under federal legislation,” he said in a statement.
By reiterating that the federal financing decline is illegal, Choudri stated: “These are legally binding agreements and that the authority has fulfilled all obligations, as confirmed by repetitions of federal reviews, until recently as in February 2025. The only high -speed railway project in America quickly approaches the phase of the phase, with 171 kilometers under construction and more active design, 50 main structures.
In a statement published on July 17, Newsom said: “Trump wants to deliver to China the future and leave the central valley. We will not leave it. With projects like the high -speed railway of Texas that cannot be raised, we are kilometers ahead of others. We are now in the phase of the track and build the high -speed railway in America. California is putting all the options to fight this illegal action.”
Go to California
The official loss of federal money will not immediately annul one of the largest infrastructure projects in the country. California’s officer is already studying the next financing phase to get the first 171 miles of high -speed railway: the full section between Merced and Bakersfield–
Opened by 2033.
Although the project will continue to be financed through state taxes, as residents voted in 2008, the Chsra advances in bringing private money to the mix, in the hope of reducing the creation of the 800 kilometers of Los Angeles in San Francisco Promises while infonous with the additional capital project to make it a reality.
Chudri said that during the railway seminar of the American Association of Public Transport of the American Association of June 27 that the Chsra needed stable funding from the state and a public-private collaboration.
“ With our friends in the private sector, ” he says, “ we should consider our new scheme of having a true public-private collaboration discussion and a true investment plan where we can advance this program, not with a construction of $ 1 billion a year, but provides them with the securization mechanism so that they can advance the program much faster than we thought. ”
In terms of equation, the budget of the Gavin Newsom proposed the budget of 2026 for the legislature that is committed to a billion dollars annually to the project of financing sources of head and trade until 2045.This fundamental support, which continues to be negotiation with the legislature, would be enough to make private money interested in, as CHSRA has already published a request for private companies.
“Private equity is taking a serious note on this and there is an illusion in a global way,” said Sia Kusha, a senior vice president of Plenary Americas, in the same scenario as Chudri during the seminar. He added that the support of the public owner guarantees the developers to know that there is a commitment to complete the project.
