Trump administration launches review of CA High-Speed Rail Project’s $4 billion in federal funding

CALIFORNIA – U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean P. Duffy, announced February 20, that the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) initiated a review of the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA).

According to the news release, the review will decide if roughly $4 billion in taxpayer money should still be spent on the proposed high-speed rail project between Merced and Bakersfield in California’s Central Valley.

“For too long, taxpayers have subsidized the massively over-budget and delayed California High-Speed Rail project,” said Duffy. “President Trump is right that this project is in dire need of an investigation.

Duffy said he is directing his staff to review and determine whether the CHSRA has followed through on the commitments it made to receive billions of dollars in federal funding.

According to a recent report by the CHSRA inspector general, the initial 171-mile segment between Merced and Bakersfield faces a $6.5 billion funding gap.

The inspector general also reported that the project is likely to be more than three years behind the 2033 completion date.

Duffy goes on to say that if CHSRA has not followed through on commitments, he will have to consider whether the $4 billion could be given to infrastructure projects elsewhere in the United States.

In the letter to CHSRA, FRA warned that any work done after the notice is at CHSRA’s own risk, as the review could lead to actions like stopping reimbursements or ending agreements.

‘More than three times the original cost estimate’

Initial estimates for the entire San Francisco to Los Angeles project – to be completed by 2020, was $33 billion.

“Today, the Merced-to-Bakersfield segment alone would cost more than the original total. The latest estimate for San Francisco to Los Angeles is $106 billion — more than three times the original cost estimate,” said a statement in the news release.

It was also noted that CHSRA inspector general said the limited project, which is expected to have only 2 million riders each year, fails to link major California cities.

Despite the setbacks, a recent Emerson College poll found that 54% of Californians believe that the state’s high-speed rail project is ‘a good use of state funds.’

‘Every dollar of the project is accounted for’

In a statement, the CHSRA responded to Trump’s previous claims that the project has ‘hundreds of billions of dollars of cost overruns’ and was the ‘worst managed.’

“Of approximately $13 billion spent on the project, $10.5 billion have been funded exclusively by the State of California (not hundreds of billions) and those expenditures have created over $22 billion in economic impact,” the statement reads in part.

It goes on to say that every dollar of the project is accounted for and has been thoroughly reviewed by the independent Office of the Inspector General [whose] sole focus is improving oversight and accountability of the California high-speed rail project.