President Trump said Tuesday that he would investigate the High Speed Railway Plan in California, calling him “the worst managed project” he has seen.
“They have hundreds of billions of dollars in excess costs,” Trump told journalists in the Oval office. “It is impossible for something to cost so much.”
In response, the high -speed rail authority published a progress report on X.
“Ignore the noise. We are busy building, ”said the post, highlighting the environmental authorization of the project for construction between Los Angeles and San Francisco, the construction in the Central Valley and more than 14,000 jobs that the project has provided.
A spokesman for the authority said that of the approximately $ 13 billion that have been spent on the project, $ 10.5 billion have been financed through the state of California, “not hundreds of billions.”
“Every dollar of the project is counted and has been thoroughly reviewed by the Independent Office of the Inspector General,” said the spokesman. “Expenses have created more than $ 22 billion in economic impact.”
But the project has faced continuous challenges about the timeline and financing. The budget is approximately $ 100 billion more than the original estimate of $ 33 billion of authority, and the authority has not yet identified tens of billions of dollars necessary to finish it.
Initially, the project was expected to be completed by 2020. But that timeline has been withdrawn considerably. The construction has been limited to the Central Valley. The authority expects to complete a stretch of 171 miles between Merced and Bakersfield between 2030 and 2033. It is not clear when construction would begin in other parts of the line.
The leaders of the authority have recognized the problems of financing and time in the meetings of the Board, and the legislators and the transit experts have indicated the need for a private sector investment in the absence of federal financing commitments. A peer review group designated by the State has repeatedly advised the authority that considers alternative plans for the project.
California's high -speed railway effort has been attacked by the efficiency department of Elon Musk's government. In X in December, he highlighted the $ 6.8 billion that the project has received in federal funds and the application of the authority of additional $ 8 billion. Musk had said at the beginning of last year that thousands of millions of dollars have spent on high speed rail “for practically nothing.” US representative Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) has introduced legislation to defuse it.
In January, state leaders went to the offensive and promoted train progress to eventually connect the state and link to a high -speed rail line between southern California and Las Vegas.
Governor Gavin Newsom delayed the criticisms that the project has faced regarding past decisions. The train has been criticized for not using a direct route along the interstate 5.
“We cannot return. We just have to accept the responsibility of where we are, and that is exactly what we are doing, ”said Newsom last month.
