Posted on 08/22/2025 11:05:48 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
On August 19, 2025, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform escalated its scrutiny of Gavin Newsom’s vanity project: a high-speed railway that was originally supposed to connect California’s major cities by 2020. Congressional Oversight may mark the final phase in the latest review process that began in October 2024. This is not the first time the project came under federal fire — an earlier FRA review in 2019 led to termination of a key grant, which was later reinstated on smaller scale in 2021 and tied to the Central Valley segment.
Specifically, the other important FRA review in 2019 occurred under the Trump administration. It led to termination of an FY10 agreement to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles. However, the project was reinstated in June 2021 under a settlement between the Biden administration and California. The settlement restored nearly $1 billion in federal grant funding, tying it back to the Central Valley segment, known as the Merced-Bakersfield (M-B) Early Operating Segment (EOS).
The Oversight Committee wants to know whether the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) knowingly misled federal officials to obtain taxpayer funding. Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) demanded internal documents, communications, and staff-level briefings on whether the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) misled federal officials about ridership, costs, and timelines to secure billions in funding for the project. The committee set a deadline of September 2, 2025 for the Department of Transportation (DOT) to respond.
History of a Train to Nowhere
In 2008, California voters approved the construction of an 800-mile statewide high-speed railway with “$9.95 billion dollars of state bond funding,” according to a letter sent by Comer to Transportation secretary Sean P. Duffy. The boondoggle has been characterized as “perhaps the greatest infrastructure failure in the history of the country,”
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
According to the June 4 report, the rail project has already received “approximately $6.9 billion in federal dollars” over a 15-year period, yet not a single mile of high-speed track has been laid.
Instead, much of the federal funding has gone into construction packages for bridges, viaducts, and earthworks. Other funds have been spent on land acquisition; relocation of utilities; planning and environmental reviews; and lawsuits, settlements, and bureaucratic overhead.
Phase 1 (about 520 miles) of the project was designed to connect Northern and Southern California in under three hours. Phase 2 (about 280 miles) was designed to extend north to Sacramento and south to San Diego, but it is contingent on the completion of Phase 1. The Merced–Bakersfield corridor is a subset of the larger Phase 1 alignment.
How much did Newsom suck out of it I wonder.
All of it to fund illegals (future democrats).
In 2008,*** California voters*** approved the construction of an 800-mile statewide high-speed railway.
The kickback hacks aren’t the only problem for the cash fire.
“...yet not a single mile of high-speed track has been laid.”
It is becoming apparent that “California voters” are probably not Californians. Bass,Newsom, Bonta, and others should be in jail for defrauding the public, and not doing the job they were “elected” to do.
IMHO
Anytime a Democrat politician proposes a public funded project, grab your wallet and RUN!
Highly likely it will never be completed. If it is, it will eventually cost far more than $128B, and the result will be a rail system that hemorrhages cash and is infested with criminals of every type. No doubt it will be a "gun free zone", except for the gang bangers and other scum.
How much did Newsom suck out of it I wonder.
—
Enough to keep his hair styled.
For all the funds poured into it, not a single rail has been laid, but a shitload of crony pockets have been lined!
It’s nothing short of amazing that America’s worst governor who presides over the nation’s worst run state — with the highest unemployment, highest taxes and most homelessness — is the de facto front-runner for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination... for apparently no reasons beyond a big mouth, a slick hairdo, amateurish trolling skills and the Getty family’s money.
FRA = Federal Railroad Administration
C’mon, the train has almost gotten nowhere.
Just a few million more should do the trick.
I am reasonably assured that *Something* has been laid
Maybe it should be renamed the California HSSH or high speed scheisse hosen as being more accurate
As I understand it, not a single foot of rail has been laid.
_____________
Yes, small section (22 mi) is “Declared substantially complete, (except for one canal relocation), ready for railroad tracks to be laid”.
Some sections (about 90 mi) are being worked on and are in different stages of completion.
Even in the segment from Modesto to Bakersfield, there are sections (over 50 mi!) where where nothing has been done yet!
Where’d the money go?
You can bet they are Californians it’s been a democars stat from near day one.
Drive anywhere in the state and note all the democrat signs in yards.
“”””Anytime a Democrat politician proposes a public funded project, grab your wallet and RUN!”””””””
Grab your wallet. Grab your ankles. One of them.
The transcontinental railroad was ley authorized by Congress in 1862, began construction in 1863 in the middle of the Civil War and was completed in 1869; rather a bit better than what Newscum has done with vastly improved technology.
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