The Trump administration and its Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy have scrapped billions of dollars in federal funding for the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA). While this has been presented as a financial decision, Trump’s words to describe the Governor of California, a political opponent, suggested it is part of his ongoing campaign against the largest and richest state in the US.
The cut is worth at least $4bn, but while this is only a small part of the California High-Speed Rail project’s overall budget, it could make the continuation of the project impossible. The cancelled funding allocations are known as the FSP Agreement and the FY10 Agreement.
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The project was on track to cost as much as $128 billion, significantly higher than its original estimate of $33 billion. A key aim of the project was “creating the greenest infrastructure project in the nation, both in its operations and its construction.”
The Department of Transportation described the project as “California’s High Speed Rail Boondoggle”. Boondoggle is a US term used to describe wasteful or fraudulent spending on capital projects.
Its statement also echoes Trump’s previous assertions that a new rail route is unneeded because roads and aviation routes exist. “The $135 billion projected total cost of the project could buy every San Francisco and LA resident nearly 200 roundtrip flights between the cities,” it said.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy put it bluntly in his own statement: “It’s time for this boondoggle to die.”
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By GlobalDataHe then extended the political attack on the California state administration, and Gavin Newsom, who has been vocal in his opposition to the actions of the Trump federal government.
“This is California’s fault. Governor Newsom and the complicit Democrats have enabled this waste for years. Federal dollars are not a blank check – they come with a promise to deliver results. After over a decade of failures, CHSRA’s mismanagement and incompetence has proven it cannot build its train to nowhere on time or on budget,” Duffy asserted.
The cut followed a review of the federal funding allocated to the CHSRA, which found the Authority “cannot meet its obligations under the grant agreement”. Duffy said further reviews into further funding were now underway.
The decision, which was foreshadowed by Trump and Duffy’s words over the past week, was met with anger by Californian officials.
CHSRA CEO Ian Choudri said: “Cancelling these grants without cause isn’t just wrong — it’s illegal.”
“These are legally binding agreements, and the Authority has met every obligation, as confirmed by repeated federal reviews, as recently as February 2025. America’s only high-speed rail project underway is fast approaching the track-laying phase, with 171 miles under active construction and design, 15,500 jobs created, and more than 50 major structures completed. This is no time for Washington to walk away on America’s transportation future,” Choudri added.
Governor Newsom said the funding reversal would benefit China (which has already built more than 20,000 miles of high-speed railways) instead of the US, and the California State government would challenge the decision in court.
“Trump wants to hand China the future and abandon the Central Valley. We won’t let him. With projects like the Texas high-speed rail failing to take off, we are miles ahead of others. We’re now in the track-laying phase and building America’s only high-speed rail. California is putting all options on the table to fight this illegal action,” Newsom said.
Aside from the party politics, the DoT and Federal Railroad Administration under Secretary Duffy cited several reasons for stopping the funding. These centre around the finding that CHSRA will “not be able to deliver the operation of a Merced-to-Bakersfield corridor by the end of 2033”. The full decision letter can be found here.
The reasons given include:
“CHSRA has already missed its deadline for finalizing its rolling stock procurement.
CHSRA has at least a $7 billion funding gap to complete the EOS, with no credible plan to secure additional funds.
CHSRA does not have a viable path to complete the EOS by 2033 per its commitment in the FY10 Agreement and the FSP Agreement.
CHSRA relies on volatile non-federal funding sources, which present significant project risk.
CHSRA lacks time and money to electrify the EOS by 2033.
CHSRA’s budget contingency is inadequate to cover anticipated contractor delay claims.”
A full response to these points was delivered by the CHSRA in a letter, which can be read here.
While not specifically mentioned in the decision document, the lack of laid track has become a key talking point in Duffy and Trump’s public communication on the project.
Though it is true that no actual track has yet been laid for the high-speed line, Choudri said this is due to the significant infrastructure like bridges, viaducts, and underpasses that must be built first, many of which have been completed.
“I must also take this opportunity to dispute, in the strongest possible terms, the misleading claim that the Authority has made ‘minimal progress to advance construction,’” wrote Choudri on 12 July. “The Authority’s work has already reshaped the Central Valley. We have built many of the viaducts, overpasses, and underpasses on which the first 119 miles of high-speed rail track will run.”
