Free Republic

I last wrote about California’s high-speed rail to nowhere in Democrat’s dying and dead mass people movers in June: Approved by California voters in 2008, it was supposed to have run from San Francisco to Los Angeles by 2030 at a cost of a mere $33 billion. Eventually, it was downscaled to a very short route in the Central Valley, and the costs are over $100 billion and still rising [it’s now around $130 billion]. All that and not a single foot of rail—for a railroad!—has been laid. A variety of bridges and other concrete and steel monoliths have been...

California’s high-speed rail had a $9.95 billion bond measure back in 2008 that was supposed to link up LA, San Francisco and the Central Coast by 2020. It’s 2025 and the budget has shot up to $128 billion. Sorry, let me correct that, it has shot up to $135 billion. By the time you read this, it’ll probably be up another few billion. The Trump administration is pulling funding from the ‘train to nowhere’ because well, just look at the Gov. Newsom press release. “The Authority has met every obligation, as confirmed by repeated federal reviews, as recently as February...

"This boondoggle, led by the incompetent Governor of California, Gavin Newscum, has cost Taxpayers Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we have received NOTHING in return except Cost Overruns."

Florida's beloved Brightline has been dubbed America's deadliest train after it was revealed to have revealed killed someone on average every 13 days. In total, a staggering 182 people have died and 99 were injured on the tracks since 2018, leading to furious finger-pointing and calls for further safety measures around the notoriously deadly rail line. Another 101 collisions into vehicles mercifully ended without causalities, according to an investigation by the Miami Herald and WLRN. The high-speed trainlines first victim, 18-year-old Maddie Brunelle, died eight years ago after being struck by a Brightline train. Her mother, Amy Brunelle, continues to...

Vice President JD Vance: “I'm proud to announce with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya that the Trump Administration is launching a program to study long-term health effects of the chemical spill in East Palestine, OH and help residents access the care they need. East Palestine, we will never forget you.”

It could be the end of the line for the "train to nowhere." Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has released a scathing report exposing what he said is the unfeasibility of California's long-troubled high-speed rail project — and is threatening to pull the plug on a plan that already has the federal government on the hook for $6.9 billion while Californians are underwriting an additional $9 billion. Duffy said that the federal government is moving to terminate around $4 billion it has currently obligated to the project unless the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) can prove it is tenable. He blasted...

The suit alleges a coordinated effort to block medical care for those exposed to toxic chemicals. Also named are Vanguard, Mercy Health, and Quest Diagnostics, with the CDC accused of instructing healthcare providers not to test for dioxins or other hazardous substances. Plaintiffs claim this led to widespread misdiagnoses, delayed treatment, and that a letter was circulated telling providers to dismiss patient health concerns. ...

Caltrain has installed RailSentry, an AI-powered technology, at the Churchill Avenue rail crossing in Palo Alto to enhance safety. The system uses cameras and lidar to detect and distinguish between objects, alerting a security operations center if any intrude on the tracks. While RailSentry is a significant improvement, it is part of a larger effort including pavement markers, signage, and upgraded fencing to address safety concerns at the crossing. There were more than 230 vehicle-track incursions in which a tow truck was required to get a vehicle off the tracks on Caltrain’s corridor between 2020 and April 23, 2025, according...

Officers had to form a skirmish line to clear a large mob that vandalized a Metro train, a police car and several businesses in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday night.

San Francisco came to a standstill Friday after the BART train system was suspended due to a network failure. BART service was halted around 5am PT, stranding thousands of commuters on their way to work. 'Due to a computer networking problem BART service is suspended system wide until further notice,' BART Alert shared on X. BART added that crews are on hand, troubleshooting a 'computer networking problem.' The rail systems spokesperson Alicia Trost told NBC Bay Area that the control center was unable to power up the system after its daily overnight shutdown. An image of the Embarcadero BART station...

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) submitted a report to Congress urging action to restore passenger train service. The report proposes a daily Amtrak route from Portland to Denver, with stops in Baker City, Oregon. This was reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply. Amtrak ended its Pioneer Route in 1997, and efforts to revive it have occurred sporadically since then. Oregon’s senators have endorsed the idea multiple times, advocating for the route’s return. In 2021, Congress instructed the FRA to evaluate potential new long-distance train routes, including the Pioneer Route. The recent FRA report highlights the Pioneer Route...

“Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary argued during a recent interview that President Trump’s tariffs against China are necessary because the U.S. has to train Beijing “like a puppy” to not “steal” intellectual property. “It’s not just trade tariffs. It’s you cheating and stealing. We’re tired of it, and you’ve got to stop. They actually don’t care that they steal IP [intellectual property] — they don’t. They think it’s OK,” O’Leary said during a Friday morning appearance on CNN. “It’s almost … the analogy is like a puppy when you’re training it. You stick the nose in the poo poo, and...

Failed vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) admitted during a recent interview he can sometimes be “a train wreck.” In an article published by New York Magazine, the Intelligencer told Walz “It doesn’t feel like the party was very bold when you and Harris got on the ticket in the latter half of the 2024 campaign.” Walz said he thinks they are “cautious by nature,” adding that “I said this and I told the vice-president, I said I know my strengths and weaknesses. I said about 90 percent of the time, I can be really good, but about...

The Trump administration is launching an audit of California’s high-speed rail project, which is a decade late and is expected to run $100 billion over budget without connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles, as originally intended. As Breitbart News has reported, President Donald Trump warned that the federal government could claw back over $4 billion in spending on the project, just as he blocked $1 billion for the ailing project during his first administration. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy drew protesters in an appearance in Los Angeles to announce the audit: U.S. Secretary of...

Democratic strategist James Carville argued that political actors in his party should “play possum” right now, as grassroots organizing pops up across the country, noting that the “freight train is moving.” Carville joined MSNBC’s “The Beat” on Monday, where host Ari Melber asked him to weigh into the nationwide protests against the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). “This is happening all around the country. So, the question is, how should Democratic politicians respond to this? And I think they should do is, what we call in rural America, play possum. Just let it go. Don’t...

IT'S NEW YEARS EVE AND IT'S THE TRUMP FAMILY TRAIN GALS ARE WARMING UP. IS THAT YOU STYLIN, WITH DARK GLASSES ON IN THE BACK LOOKING FOR RED HEADS? SWEETIE & JEMIAN THINK THEY HAVE THE MOVES, MAYFLOWERMADAM IN THE BACK IS REALLY TRYINGFREEE-DAME AND CHANI CAN BARELY GET THOSE HIPS MOVING RUSTY THROWS OFF HER NECK BRACE AND SAYS THIS IS HOW IT IS DONE GIRLS. NORSKY & EXIT82 ARE HAVING A DANCING COMPETITION BUT A SURPRISE GUEST HAS OUTDONE THEM BOTH MsBEHAVIN IS STILL NOT BEHAVIN JUDY IS ONCE AGAIN SAMPLING THE WINE AFTER A FEW GLASSES...

USA: One person was killed and four were injured after a freight train hit a truck standing on the tracks in the city of Pecos, Texas. As a result of the impact, the train derailed and hit buildings.

Join me as we ride through Indonesia on what is one of the world's best train suites for only $100! We started this trip in Yogyakarta and rode this 6hr train all the way to Jakarta in first class

Sacramento-area congressman Kevin Kiley took to the floor of the House of Representatives recently to declare the following: “Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to report that the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency has honed in on perhaps the single-greatest example of government waste in United States history,” the Republican from Rocklin intoned. “And that is California’s high-speed-rail boondoggle.”

Diorama Shokudo is a place where foster parents and cats can meet and become happy! (Translated from Japanese)