The Trump administration has launched a compliance review into California’s high-speed-rail project, Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Thursday.
The review will focus on $4 billion promised by the Biden administration for continued construction in the Central Valley between Merced and Bakersfield and will determine the outlook for federal funding commitments for the train, which faces challenges related to budget and timeline.
“We can’t just say we’re going to give money and then not hold states accountable to how they spend that money — how they spend it per the agreements that they made with the federal government,” Duffy said at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. “If California wants to continue to invest, that’s fine, but we in the Trump administration are going to take a look at whether this project is worthy of a continual investment.”
Duffy said the department would also review grants attached to Green New Deal and social justice initiatives.
The announcement comes days after Republican lawmakers urged Trump to investigate the high-speed-rail line and after Trump and Cabinet leaders signaled they would examine the project.
“We welcome this investigation and the opportunity to work with our federal partners,” said Ian Choudri, chief executive of the High-Speed Rail Authority. “With multiple independent federal and state audits completed, every dollar is accounted for, and we stand by the progress and impact of this project. … This investment has already generated $22 billion in economic impact, primarily benefiting the Central Valley.”
The authority has said that roughly $13 billion has been spent on the project and that the majority has been funded through the state; Duffy said $15.7 billion has been spent on the project. It was unclear why those estimates differed.
During the news conference, chants from protesters on the other side of a curtain that separated the news conference from the train station drowned out comments from Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) and other lawmakers who are against the high-speed-rail project.
Jesse Budlong, a transportation planner who attended the protest, called the location of the announcement a political grandstand against transit users who rely on public transportation.
“We weren’t expecting anything positive today,” he said. “The programs are audited every month and year by multiple departments and agencies, so I don’t think they’re necessarily going to find anything that’s shocking.”
Although the entire line between San Francisco to Los Angeles was environmentally cleared for construction last year, the project has faced massive challenges. The budget is roughly $100 billion more than the authority’s original $33-billion estimate, and leaders have yet to identify tens of billions of dollars needed to finish it. The train initially was pitched for a 2020 launch; instead, construction has been limited to a 171-mile stretch in the Central Valley and no part has been completed.
The obstacles have been acknowledged by board members and transit leaders, and a state-appointed peer review group that advises the authority has suggested the plan be reexamined. Private-sector investments have been flagged as a necessary endeavor for the project’s survival.
Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), who sits on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, is concerned over the large-scale effect the potential federal defunding of high-speed rail may have across the state.
“This is not an administration that seems to be favorable toward transit and toward California,” she said, adding that the absence of federal funding would require further taxpayer support to complete projects already underway. “It would mean that in order to finish these projects, people would have to spend even more of their own money, their own tax dollars, at a time where it’s really important that we give people relief and bring down the cost of living.”
Trump slammed the high-speed-rail project this month, calling it “mismanaged.” In response, the High-Speed Rail Authority posted a progress report on X.
“Ignore the noise. We’re busy building,” the post said, highlighting the project’s environmental clearance for construction between Los Angeles and San Francisco, construction in the Central Valley and more than 14,000 jobs the project has provided.
California’s high-speed-rail endeavor has been targeted by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which is led by Elon Musk. In a post on X in December, it highlighted the $6.8 billion the project has received in federal funding, and the authority’s request for an additional $8 billion. Musk said last year that billions of dollars have been spent on high-speed rail “for practically nothing.”
The first Trump administration tried to claw back roughly $1 billion promised by Obama. The authority and state leaders are prepared to keep moving forward.
Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom and transportation officials tied the state’s high-speed-rail line with the privately owned Brightline West train, which would connect Los Angeles to Las Vegas, and announced the two may someday connect. Duffy said Thursday that Brightline could be “worthy of investment.”
