Trump blasts California train project’s massive cost overruns

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President Donald Trump has set his sights on California’s High-Speed Rail project, announcing a comprehensive investigation into what he describes as a severely mismanaged infrastructure endeavor.

Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump delivered a scathing critique of the project, expressing his intention to scrutinize what many conservatives have long criticized as an excessive drain on taxpayer resources.

“One of the things I want to investigate rapidly—because I’ve never seen anything to this extent—is the train that’s being built between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

FINALLY someone is going to investigate our train to no where!

Please @POTUS, take Newsom DOWN! He has been lining his pockets for YEARS!

TRUMP: "The train that's being built between Los Angeles and San Francisco is the worst managed project that I think I've ever seen…… pic.twitter.com/PsXPsG3D7H

— Karly619 (@DepravedAngel) February 5, 2025

It is the worst-managed project I think I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen some of the worst. Billions and billions—hundreds of billions—of dollars over budget.

In fact, I read that you could take every single person who was going to go on the train, provide the finest limousine service in the world to take them back and forth, and you’d still have hundreds of billions of dollars left over.

It is the worst thing, and we’re going to start an investigation of that because it’s not possible. I built for a living, and I built on time and on budget. It’s impossible that something could cost that much.

Now it’s not even going to San Francisco, and it’s not going to Los Angeles. They’ve made it much shorter. Now it’s at little places far away from San Francisco and far away from Los Angeles.

We’re going to start a big investigation on that because I’ve never seen anything like it. Nobody has ever seen anything like it. The worst overruns there have ever been in the history of our country.”

In response to the criticism, the California High-Speed Rail Authority defended their progress on social media platform X, highlighting their achievements:

“Ignore the noise. We’re busy building.

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”

The ambitious rail project, initially approved by California voters with a projected cost of $33 billion and a completion timeline set for 2020, has experienced significant setbacks. According to abc30, current estimates place the project’s cost between $128 and $130 billion, with uncertainty surrounding its completion date.