California High-Speed Rail Project Leader Defies Trump

The leader of the largest high-speed rail project in the U.S. has said the project will continue despite the Trump administration’s withdrawal of funding.

Ian Choudri, the CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, said the U.S. “cannot just fail” in trying to use the technology, adding that he would continue to ensure the project remained on track.

Newsweek has contacted the California High-Speed Rail Authority for more information via email.

Why It Matters

Years of delays and an inflated budget have damaged public and political faith in California’s high-speed rail project, but the past few years have seen progress, with construction happening throughout the state and tracklaying set to begin later this year. Proponents of the project say that to call if off now, as many of its detractors in the White House desire, would waste years of advancement.

That has not stopped President Donald Trump, a long-standing critic of the project, from regularly threatening to take away the federal funding that has been vital to the project’s progress—a threat he and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy carried out in July.

What To Know

In an interview with the Central Valley Daily podcast, Choudri said, “The U.S. cannot just fail on high-speed rail.” He added that any large construction project on this scale would take a long period of investment to bear fruit.

“That was not done in one year or two years or 10 years,” he said, referring to the construction of large-scale projects such as the Big Dig and the interstate highway grid.

It “took generations, two or three sometimes,” Choudri said, adding that the California high-speed rail project needed “national commitment.”

“The issues and challenges … were not about how we can build bridges or tunnels or embankments or civil infrastructure, which we have been doing in this country for 300 years,” he said, adding that he “came to realize the challenges were outside of that.”

An Amtrak Pacific Surfliner train from San Diego to San Luis Obispo in Simi Valley, California, on April 6.

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“The [Newsom] administration and the legislature and the folks that I talk to, we would love to have also the federal government commit the same way. Yes, there will be criticism but … the healthiest thing to do is just talk about, ‘Hey, what works and what doesn’t?’ And my job is to go fix that,” Choudri said.

Last month, the Trump administration officially revoked a $4 billion federal grant, branding the project a “boondoggle” and arguing that it failed to deliver on promises.

Shortly after, Governor Gavin Newsom proposed extending the state’s cap-and-trade program, which generates about $1 billion annually for the rail, by 15 years to 2045 to ensure funding for the project’s immediate future.

What People Are Saying

Ian Choudri, the CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, previously said in response to the Trump administration’s revocation: “Canceling 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 tracklaying 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.”