FRA launches review of California's high-speed-rail funding

The Federal Railroad Administration has launched a compliance review of the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) and its project to build a high-speed rail system in the state's Central Valley between Merced and Bakersfield, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced yesterday.

The review will determine whether CHSRA will receive $4 billion in federal funding, granted under the Biden administration, for the project. The entire San Francisco-to-Los Angeles project was initially to be completed by 2020 and cost $33 billion. Now, the Merced-to-Bakersfield segment 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, U.S. Department of Transportation officials said in a press release.

President Donald Trump has long opposed California's high-speed rail project.

"President Trump is right that this project is in dire need of an investigation," said Duffy in a press release. "That is why I am directing my staff to review and determine whether the CHSRA has followed through on the commitments it made to receive billions of dollars in federal funding. If not, I will have to consider whether that money could be given to deserving infrastructure projects elsewhere in the United States."

CHSRA officials said in a social media post that they welcome the investigation "and look forward to working with our federal partners." In a post on X.com, they added: "CA High-Speed Rail has been audited over 100 times, every dollar is accounted for and progress is real — 50 structures built, 14,600 jobs created and 171 miles under construction."

Protesters who support the project tried to drown out Duffy at a news conference held yesterday at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reported. Duffy told the protesters to take their concerns to state Democrats and Gov. Gavin Newsom's office.

“If you want to go protest somewhere, if you want to shout at someone, go to the governor’s mansion. Go talk to Democrats in the Legislature who have brought us this crappy project,” Duffy said, according to the newspaper.

Meanwhile, transportation labor leaders disputed Duffy's comments and the Trump administration's decision to potentially revoke $4 billion in federal funding. The project is the most ambitious transportation project in the country, has created thousands of middle-class jobs and been an economic boon to more than 800 small businesses that are involved in the project, the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO, said in a prepared statement.

"As America's largest transportation labor federation, representing thousands of rail and building trades workers who will build, operate, and maintain the California High-Speed Rail System, we strongly disagree with Secretary Duffy's remarks that this is ‘a crappy project’ and ‘a train to nowhere’," union officials said. "Most of the 500-mile Phase I system from San Francisco to Los Angeles is shovel ready, with 171 miles under active construction across the Central Valley and nearly 40 construction projects that have been completed."