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California Republican leaders have been heartened by Donald Trump’s election and have sent him a letter urging him to spike any federal money for the absurdly over-budget and behind-schedule California high speed rail.
Trump did so, correctly, for a project that the Obama Administration consistently extended the deadline to meet the criteria for a $3 billion federal grant.
Naturally, President Joe Biden, a huge fan of choo-choos, reinstated the money despite the lack of progress.
Trump would be well within his rights and the law to claw it back again.
Meanwhile, high-speed rail leaders threw yet another pivot into the mix. When voters approved the plan, it called for an $8 billion allocation to a $33 billion plan to provide trains traveling from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 2 ½ hours. All further funds were to come from private sources. Former Gov. Jerry Brown kept it alive during his term by cutting a deal with the Legislature to allocate 25% of the environmental cap-and-trade proceeds to the rail project. It was debatable whether that was an appropriate use for the funds that are supposed to battle climate change.
When he gave his inaugural speech, Gov. Gavin Newsom seemed to drive a spike through the project, but pressure grew so the project was shifted to 172 miles from Bakersfield to Merced where they hope it will connect with a line bound for the Bay Area. The latest audit found that this route would open no sooner than 2033 and lacked billions to make it a reality.
Last week, from Wasco in the depths of the San Joaquin Valley near Bakersfield, was the site when Newsom announced a new route. The rail would run to Palmdale where it would connect with another hoped-for high speed rail project, the High Desert Corridor running from Los Angeles. Officials will argue that will fulfil the LA part of the high-speed ballot measure.
The line would then head for San Bernadino County and Rancho Cucamonga to connect with the privately owned Brightline West line that is scheduled to run in the Interstate 10 right-of-way to Las Vegas. The company already is operating lines in Florida and brings a positive track record that already has received grant funding from the Biden administration.
The state has spent $13 billion on the project with $10.5 billion coming from California.
Trump publicly has attacked the state rail project—whether he and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy will follow through remains to be seen. It’s difficult to conceive that Elon Musk’s agency won’t target that project when it gets to the transportation department.
