Feb. 20 (UPI) — At the behest of President Donald Trump, Secretary of Transportation Sean P. Duffy Thursday ordered a Federal Railroad Administration review of California’s high-speed rail project, questioning a $4 billion commitment to the project.
“President Trump is right that this project is in dire need of an investigation,” Duffy said in statement. “That is why I am directing my staff to review and determine whether the CHSRA has followed through on the commitments it made to receive billions of dollars in federal funding.”
The Department of Transportation said in a statement that the entire San Francisco to Los Angeles high-speed rail project was initially supposed to cost $33 billion and be finished in 2020.
But the DOT claimed just the Merced to Bakersfield segment would cost more than the original total and the latest total project cost estimate is $106 billion.
Duffy said the $4 billion from the DOT could be pulled from California’s high rail project and used on other infrastructure projects instead.
The DOT said California’s High-Speed Rail Office of the Inspector General found the Merced to Bakersfield section “has a funding gap of at least $6.5 billion.”
The DOT said the gap exists “despite California being due to receive over $4 billion from the Biden administration.”
DOT investments in infrastructure projects are national investments using congressional-approved funds for infrastructure. The money comes from U.S. taxpayer funds appropriated by Congress, not from the Biden administration.
The DOT said the FRA will review California’s high-speed rail project examining “compliance under the FRA-administered grant agreements to determine whether CHSRA has fully met its obligations under the award terms.”
