Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced he would direct the Federal Rail Administration (FRA) to conduct a compliance review of funding allocated to California’s long-embattled high-speed rail—and determine whether the project is worthy of continued federal investment.
“President [Donald] Trump has thought about this project,” Duffy said Feb. 20 during a press conference with elected officials at Los Angeles’s historic Union Station. “I think he was very kind when he said this project has been mismanaged. I would agree.”
Duffy said California’s high-speed rail has so far consumed nearly $16 billion in 16 years, with almost nothing to show for it, while timelines and budgets have mushroomed, more than tripling since the project was introduced in 2008. The state rail authority reports it has spent $13 billion from July 2006 through June 2024, while recent estimates for completion run as high as $130 billion.
The rail authority’s inspector general in a Feb. 3 report anticipated further delays and a $6.5-billon funding gap in the 171-mile stretch currently under construction from Bakersfield to Merced in the state’s Central Valley region—an interior segment of the envisioned 400-mile track from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
Duffy said he would direct the FRA to focus on the $4 billion promised by the Biden administration to fund two construction projects planned for this segment. The investigation, which will review how federal money has been spent and whether the state is in compliance with federal agreements, will help determine whether billions in taxpayer dollars should remain committed, Duffy said. […]
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