The Trump administration is cancelling another $175m in funding for California’s high-speed rail, marking another setback for the state’s much-delayed project.
The US transportation department said on Tuesday it was withdrawing funding the $175m for grade separation, over-crossing and design work and to build a high-speed rail station in Madera. The move follows the cancellation earlier this summer of $4bn in federal grants for the state’s ambitious but long-overdue plans.
California in July sued to challenge the withdrawal of funding, calling the decision illegal.
The funding cuts are another hurdle for the 16-year effort to link Los Angeles and San Francisco by a three-hour train ride, a project that would deliver the fastest passenger rail service in the United States.
The rail system, whose first $10bn bond issue was approved by California voters in 2008, has built more than 50 major railway structures, including bridges, overpasses, under-crossings and viaducts, and completed 70 miles (113km) of guideway.
The project has also faced numerous delays and spiraling costs, with no section of the railway currently operational and a completion date still years away.
The San Francisco-to-Los Angeles route was initially supposed to be finished by 2020 at a cost of $33bn; the projected cost has since risen from $89bn to $128bn, with the start of service along a portion of the line in the Central valley only expected by 2033. On Monday, state lawmakers suggested the project would require a $1bn-per-year investment to continue in light of the federal funding cuts.
The move also marks the latest clash between Donald Trump and California’s governor Gavin Newsom – widely viewed as a contender for his party’s 2028 White House nomination. The two leaders have repeatedly clashed since Trump took office over issues ranging from transportation to immigration to transgender rights. Earlier on Tuesday, the transport department threatened to cancel $33m in safety funding for the state after the department said California was not enforcing federal rules requiring truck drivers to be able to speak English.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority did not immediately comment, but in July Newsom said termination of the grants amounted to “petty, political retribution, motivated by President Trump’s personal animus toward California and the high-speed rail project, not the facts on the ground”.
A previous move by Trump during his first term in 2019 to revoke $929m in federal grants was challenged by the state, leading to a settlement in June 2021 under Joe Biden restoring the full amount.
