It could be the end of the line for the “train to nowhere.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has released a scathing report exposing what he said is the unfeasibility of California’s long-troubled high-speed rail project – threatening to pull the plug on a plan that already has the federal government on the hook for $6.9 billion while Californians are underwriting an additional $9 billion.
Duffy said that the federal government is moving to terminate around $4 billion it has currently obligated to the project unless the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) can prove it is tenable.
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He blasted it as a “boondoggle,” as zero miles of high-speed track have been laid since ground was broken 10 years ago, and the cost continues to balloon.
The 300-page report, released by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on Wednesday, examined the project and found delays, missed deadlines, mismanagement, waste, skyrocketing costs, budget shortfalls and overrepresentation of projected ridership.
The report states that despite the money already plowed into the project, there is a $7 billion funding gap to complete a subset of the first phase in the Central Valley from Merced to Bakersfield, known as the Early Operating Segment (EOS).
“This report exposes a cold, hard truth: CHSRA has no viable path to complete this project on time or on budget,” Duffy said Wednesday. “CHSRA is on notice — If they can’t deliver on their end of the deal, it could soon be time for these funds to flow to other projects that can achieve President Trump’s vision of building great, big, beautiful things again.
“Our country deserves high-speed rail that makes us proud – not boondoggle trains to nowhere.”
President Donald Trump has also referred to the project as a boondoggle and said last month that it is “the worst cost overrun I’ve ever seen. It’s like, totally out of control.”
The project was initially touted as a two-phase visionary system connecting Los Angeles to San Francisco, and later north to Sacramento, and south to San Diego.
Since then, the project’s footprint has been dramatically reduced from an 800-mile segment to a 171-mile segment.
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The FRA estimates the EOS section of Phase 1 will now cost between $35.4 billion and $37.8 billion excluding financing costs, significantly higher than the CHSRA’a own estimate of $28.8 billion, creating a funding gap of $6.6 to $9 billion. The full cost of Phase 1 is in the range of $106 to $128 billion, per the report.
Duffy said he promised the American people that the Trump administration would be good stewards of their tax dollars with the report focusing on two grants awarded to the project: a $929 million cooperative agreement from 2010 and a $3.07 billion cooperative agreement from last year. Cooperative agreements allow the federal government to retain substantial involvement in how a project is carried out.
Other key findings revealed that the project faces ongoing—and likely increasing—contractor cost overruns due to delays and that the CHSRA failed to finalize contracts for its high-speed trainsets on time.
Additionally, the FRA concludes there is no viable path for CHSRA to complete the EOS by the promised 2033 deadline and that the authority’s reliance on volatile, non-federal funding sources — like cap-and-trade revenue — poses significant financial risk.
Despite substantial federal support and funding, the FRA said that the CHSRA does not have the capacity to deliver the full CHSR System, nor close the $7 billion funding gap.
“CHSRA has not learned from its mistakes and mismanagement and has therefore failed to create an organization capable of effectively and efficiently managing project delivery,” the report reads. “Despite the substantial scope reduction, the CHSR Project still continues to face numerous delays and cost overruns. At this rate, CHSRA will never complete the CHSR System.”
The FRA also accused the CHSRA of not acting in good faith in making representations to the FRA regarding its ability to complete the EOS with a reasonable budget and schedule.
The FRA wrote to the CHSRA and said it has up to 37 days to respond, after which it could seek repayment of the two collective agreement grants totaling $4 billion.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office directed Fox News to a press conference he held last month, when he discussed a revised budget plan for the state. He said the state was committed to completing the project and that the revised plan would allocate $1 billion each year for the next 20 years using funds from the state’s cap-and-trade program.
Fox News Digital reached out to CHSRA for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
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