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Posted on 08/04/2026 11:42:24 AM PDT by lowbridge
California's High-Speed Rail Authority repeatedly missed key deadlines to buy its trains, a failure federal officials cited when they pulled $4 billion in funding a year ago. More than a year and a half after the original deadline, the authority still cannot say when it expects to award the contract. The state says that the date remains "TBD."
Approved by voters in 2008, the project was originally designed to link San Francisco and Los Angeles in under three hours with electric trains capable of reaching 220 mph. There's no direct line between the two major cities, and the ride now takes 10.5 to 12 hours.
But the current plan is limited to the middle section of the route — a flat 171-mile stretch between Merced and Bakersfield in the Central Valley, selected because construction was expected to be easier, with no need to drill any tunnels. It's estimated that high-speed rail would cut that three-hour train ride in half.
Service was projected to begin by 2033.
In July 2025, the Trump administration pulled $4 billion in federal funding for California's high-speed rail project, citing the state's failure to lay any tracks after spending $15 billion over 16 years. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said "federal dollars are not a blank check — they come with a promise to deliver results."
Purchasing the trains was a key milestone. Federal officials concluded there was "no viable path" to completing the segment on time. And California had promised to connect "major metropolitan cities" but could now deliver only a substantially reduced system that "may connect two random endpoints."
Gov. Gavin Newsom called the federal withdrawal of funding a "political stunt to punish California," and state Attorney General Rob Bonta promptly sued "to stop Trump's politically motivated attack on high-speed rail."
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
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Wah, wah! Newsom wants federal funding, while wasting state funds on illegal aliens and tearing down existing private enterprise (and removal of oil production and refineries). Newsom, you want to build it then build it with your own money; don't force flyover country to fund an idiotic venture!
I am no expert, but a lot of my family did work for the Union Pacific. In order for trains to function smoothly, they require things called ‘rails’ of which the California High-Speed Rail Project lacks even a single inch.
Spread the money around, find someone else to blame. That was always the plan.
But the graft project has been spreading the money around so long,
I daresay blaming Trump (specifically) was not part of the original plan.
What’s with the fuss about funding? Mayor Pete (D-Fakus Lactationus) says all we gotta do to get fast trains is eliminate inheritances and it’s high speed rail as far as the eye can see.
CBS doesn’t sound like it’s backing Newsom anymore.
Nice try, Newscum. Nobody is buying crazy anymore.
Newsom blamed Trump for high-speed rail's $4 billion funding cut. Records show California never bought the trains it promised.
As a side note to this thread, please consider the following.
This is not Gov. Newsom's problem, but what became of the money that California voters approved roughly a decade(?) ago to expand the state's water storage which may not have happened.
From an earlier thread...
Californians approved billions for new water storage. Why hasn’t it gotten built? (Non-FR; 1.16.23)
An even bigger problem with these ignored voter-approved state projects imo is that misguided voters in the whole nation with too much voting power (17th Amendment) will predictably reelect the worthless federal career lawmakers in 2026 midterm primaries who are blatantly ignoring their constitutionally enumerated duty to guarantee each state a republican form of government.
Article IV, Section 4: The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government [emphasis added], and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.
i’m totally stunned at the depth and breadth and accuracy of this article and that it completely vindicated the Trump administration and totally damned the incompetence and opacity of every official involved in the cal high speed train fiasco ...
I beg to differ, sir.
The high speed rail, directly to the democRATs' bank accounts, worked like a charm!
Details, details. Libs love them some choo-choos and the details don’t matter. That’s how they sold my idiot fellow CA voters in this in the first place.
The project was originally designed to link San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Both directions are a no win no go zone why bother?.
Both directions are a no win no go zone why bother?.
Newscum’s magic choo choo train to nowhere. No tracks and no trains.
Once the various agencies and NGO’s filtered that 4 Billion, there would only be 1 Billion leftover for the train. There is no way in hell they could have purchase a train for half of what it cost to build.
Gee, ya think perhaps the democrats pocketed the money they were supposed to use to buy the train? DUH!!
The smarty-pants behind this fiasco didn't account for the many dozens of established towns near SF and LA. Because they can't plow thru them, they will share existing rail with freight and commuter trains. They can't go 250mph thru these towns. It will be stop and go between towns. They'll be lucky to average 30 mph.
PS - SF "officials" stole the fed funding for a downtown hi-speed rail station, using the money to build a 3-block park above the transit corridor downtown. The rail station is an empty underground hole, while they seek additional federal funds to build a station (potentially another bait and switch for money).
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