With President Donald Trump’s announcement Tuesday that he will be launching an investigation into the high cost of California High Speed Rail fulfilling a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) promise made late last year, many are celebrating.
Not the Fresno Bee with this absurd headline: Trump pledges to investigate California high speed rail. Is it actually over budget?
Let me count the ways.
Originally estimated to cost $33 billion in 2008 with a San Francisco to Los Angeles line to open by 2028, the California high speed rail system has since ballooned to $128 billion, and $135 billion+, with an estimated partial completion somewhere in the late 2030’s. And last year, the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHRSA) actually confirmed that the system still needed $100 billion to link up San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Even while Jerry Brown was still governor, the true cost of High Speed Rail was estimated to be closer to $350 billion… if it ever actually gets built.
Over budget much Fresno Bee?
Yet, the Los Angeles Times in January reported that “state leaders touted its progress to eventually connect Los Angeles to the Bay Area while linking to a high-speed line between Southern California and Las Vegas.”
Apparently Los Angeles Times reporters don’t read their own newspaper… in 2020 the Los Angeles Times reported employees at the lead consulting firm for the California High Speed Rail project were told to suppress bad news, to “shut up” and threatened with termination if they talked about the disastrous train project.
Tuesday, President Trump addressed the absurdity of the high cost of the plan and said it was mind-boggling, echoing decades of criticisms within California that the project has been nothing more than a boondoggle, the Globe reported.
“The train that’s being built between Los Angeles and San Francisco is the worst managed project I think I’ve ever seen,” Trump said. “It’s the worst managed project I think I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen some of the worst. I read that every person who would ride the train could instead take a limousine back and forth, and you’d have hundreds of billions of dollars left over. It is the worst overrun that there has ever been in the history of our country.”
When questioned on Trump’s comments on Tuesday, the high speed rail authority responded on X, pointing out their progress – defending the indefensible.
“Ignore the noise. We’re busy building,” read the post. “As we enter the track-laying phase, 171 miles are under active construction & we’ve already: COMPLETED 50 major structures COMPLETED 60 miles of guideway COMPLETED full enviro clearance from SF to LA CREATED 14,600 jobs.”
“We can’t go back. We just have to accept the responsibility of where we are, and that’s exactly what we are doing, said Arthur Sohikian, the High Speed Rail’s executive director.
Governor Gavin Newsom also pointed to the thousands of jobs the project has provided in the Central Valley.