California must be held accountable for its permanently delayed high-speed rail

Published February 6, 2025 2:31pm ET



President Donald Trump is calling for an investigation into California’s high-speed rail project. Right on cue, the project has announced yet another delay.

The inspector general for the project announced that the goal of finishing the Merced-to-Bakersfield portion of the line by the year 2030 is unrealistic, and that the secondary deadline of 2033 was also not going to be reached. The project also has a new funding gap of $6.5 billion, with this smaller version of the project estimated to cost between $32 billion and $35 billion (for now).

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