CALIFORNIA—On February 4, President Trump spoke publicly from the Oval Office relaying his desire to investigate California’s High-Speed Rail project that has been in the works for decades. The President was due to see California Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday, February 5, for a meeting at the White House.
“One of the things I want to investigate rapidly because I’ve never seen anything to this extent, the train that’s being built between Los Angeles and San Francisco is the worst managed project, and I think I’ve seen some of the worst.
Billions and billions, hundreds of billions of dollars over budget. We’re going to start a big investigation of that because I’ve never seen anything like it,” Trump stated.
The California High-Speed Rail (HSR) Authority lists their milestones on their webpage from the beginning when HSR was just an idea in 1981.
In 2002, Senate Bill (SB) 1856 (Costa) passed that authorized a $9.95 billion bond measure to finance the HSR system.
In 2009, $8 billion in federal funds was made available nationwide as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
In 2012, then-Governor Brown, in his State of the State address, declared HSR “A Priority,” for his Administration. A groundbreaking ceremony was held in 2015.
In 2017, Brown and California’s Legislators secured long-term funding stability for the project by approving AB 398, extending the Cap-and-Trade Program through 2030.
In 2023, the HSR Authority announced that 10,000 jobs were created on the high-speed rail project since the beginning of construction. An additional was received through a, $20 million in RAISE grant funding from the federal government for the Fresno HSR Station Historic Depot Renovation and Plaza Activation Project.
Nearly $3.1 billion was received by HSR in Federal Partnership grant funding to advance HSR passenger service in Central Valley. An additional $202 million in CRISI grant funding was received by the federal government.
In February 2024, after decades of building and growth, the HSR project managers announced a final business plan that may be found here. 2024-Business-Plan-FINAL
The following came from a Senate press release.
“Voters were promised that the California High-Speed Rail project would cost the state $33 billion and be completed by 2020. Fifteen years later, the California High-Speed Rail project has become one of the most troubled ‘mega-projects’ in the nation.”
An HSR spokesperson’s response was first reported by OAN.
“To date, 171 miles of high-speed rail project under design-active-construction, more than 14,600 high-quality jobs have been created, and more than 880 small businesses are engaged on the project.
Of approximately $13 billion spent on the project, $10.5 billion was funded exclusively by the state of California, not hundreds of billions, and those expenditures have created over $22 billion in economic impact, largely in California’s Central Valley communities.”
Trump, responded, “Now it’s not even going to San Francisco and it’s not even going to Los Angeles. They made it much shorter. So now, it’s at little places way away from San Francisco and way away from Los Angeles.”
