USA: ‘With multiple independent federal and state audits completed, every dollar is accounted for, and we stand by the progress and impact of this project’, California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Ian Choudri said after recently appointed US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced a review of federal funding for the project.
‘We welcome this investigation and the opportunity to work with our federal partners’, Choudri said. ‘California’s high-speed rail is 171 miles [275 km] under active construction, with over 50 major structures completed, 14 700 jobs created, and more than 880 small businesses engaged. This investment has already generated $22bn in economic impact, primarily benefiting the Central Valley.’
Speaking at Los Angeles Union station on February 20 — and to a background of chants of ‘build the rail’ from supporters of the project — Duffy announced that the Federal Railroad Administration would undertake a compliance and performance review of the programme. This would determine whether the federal government should go ahead with the provision of around $4bn of previously agreed funding for the construction of the Merced – Bakersfield initial phase of the planned San Francisco – Los Angeles corridor.
This review will determine whether CHSRA has met its obligations under the funding award terms. FRA’s formal letter to CHSRA said the findings ‘may result in remedial action up to and including withholding of reimbursement and termination of cooperative agreements’.
More deserving alternatives
Duffy said ‘for too long, taxpayers have subsidised the massively over-budget and delayed California high speed rail project. President Trump is right that this project is in dire need of an investigation. That is why I am directing my staff to review and determine whether CHSRA has followed through on the commitments it made to receive billions of dollars in federal funding. If not, I will have to consider whether that money could be given to deserving infrastructure projects elsewhere in the United States.’
Duffy said he was not against high speed rail and ‘there are wonderful high speed rail projects that are being proposed to the Federal Railroad Administration, projects that will connect cities, where they have great timelines and they have great budgets’. He said the 350 km Brightline West from Los Angeles to Las Vegas ‘seems like a project that is worthy of investment’, but the 650 km from Los Angeles to San Francisco could cost $106bn at ‘a rosy estimate’.
In response to Duffy’s announcement, California state Senator Scott Wiener said that ‘Trump is now trying to destroy California’s high speed rail project, which is under construction and moving forward’. He then claimed Trump adviser Elon Musk ‘is afraid that modern public transportation will undermine his business interests’, including Tesla and Boring Company.
Wiener added that the scheme was ‘an incredibly transparent project that has nothing to hide. The project has an independent inspector general established by the legislature and is subject to ongoing, broad-based public scrutiny.’
