US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the Transport Department would withdraw $ 4 billion from federal grants granted to California high -speed train project.
“This project was seriously overcharged, surregulated and never kept his promises,” said Trump in a publication on social networks. “The railway that we had been promised still does not exist and will never exist. »»
In a separate press release, the Department of Transport estimated that there was “no viable path” for the continuation of the project and indicated studying the possibility of recovering other linked funds, qualifying the project of “roughly off -budget”.
Californian officials qualified this illegal decision. This is the last episode of a series of confrontations between Trump and California, also relating to transgender athletes, the rules on electric vehicles, the deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles, or the price of eggs.
“California is considering all the options to fight this illegal action,” Governor Gavin Newsom reacted in a statement.
Last month, the Federal Railroad Administration published a 315 -page report pointing out unwarmed deadlines, budgetary overruns and attendance projections deemed questionable.
Among the main problems noted, California did not identify the additional $ 7 billion necessary to build a first section of 275 km between Merced and Bakersfield, and the laying of rails did not start.
The California High-Speed Rail System is a two-phase project providing for a line of 1,287 km of up to 354 km/h, connecting San Francisco to Los Angeles and Anaheim, then, in a second phase, Sacramento in the North and San Diego in the South.
The complete San Francisco-Los Angeles project was initially completed in 2020 for $ 33 billion. The cost is estimated today between 89 and 128 billion dollars.
“Canceling these subsidies without reason is not only unfair: it is illegal,” said Ian Choudri, CEO of California High-Speed Rail Authority. “These are legally binding agreements, and the authority has respected all of its obligations … It is not the time for Washington to turn its back in the future of American transport. »»
The authority adds that the project “quickly approaches the rail installation phase, with 275 km under construction or in design, 15,500 jobs created and more than 50 major structures completed”.
Gavin Newsom is currently presenting in Parliament a draft budget providing at least $ 1 billion in annual funding over 20 years, “in order to provide the resources necessary for the completion of the first operational section of the project”.
On the social network X, the Minister of Transport Sean Duffy described the Californian project as “financial chasm” and “the very example of incompetence, even corruption, government”.
Newsom replied: “I will not take advice from someone who cannot keep the planes in the sky. »»
Californian voters had approved in 2008 a funding of $ 10 billion for the project. The Transport Department under the presidency of Joe Biden had awarded some additional $ 4 billion.
In 2021, Joe Biden had restored a subsidy of $ 929 million for the Californian high -speed train, which Trump had suppressed in 2019 after qualifying the “disaster” project, California having then won its court.
