Trump Ends Boondoggle On Rails

Posted • July 16, 2025: One history professor whose lectures I thoroughly enjoyed in college started one semester by sharing his scale model of the Titanic. That ship, he said, represented the symbol of the greatest technological advancements in human history up to that point. When it launched, the Titanic wasn't merely a ship. At the time, she was simply the largest moving object ever made. The ship's construction pushed the boundaries of what industrial engineering could achieve in 1912. To succeed, Harland & Wolff needed to build special tools, such as entirely new gantry systems, forge unprecedented steel slipways, and expand dry docks just to accommodate the Titanic. The ship required over 3 million rivets, many miles of electrical wiring, and a propulsion system that combined steam-powered pistons with a next-generation turbine. That hybrid propulsion system was something no passenger liner had ever attempted.

My professor told us that the entire project needed new forms of steelwork, riveting techniques, and shipyard tooling that had never existed before. He spent easily 15 minutes explaining just how special the Titanic was, especially in 1912. All of that, he explained, illustrated just how special the Titanic was. The height of human achievement. The point he drove home? It sunk! Whenever I read about the California speed rail, I think of that lecture. In 2008, California was dreaming of a 220-mile-per-hour, 'frisco to La train ride using clean energy, zero gridlock, and THE shining symbol of the infrastructure for the 21st century started 17 years ago. All those dreams and what happened? A taxpayer nightmare: A taxpayer-funded ghost train stuck in the dirt of the Central Valley. Over sixteen years and $11 billion later, echoes of the Titanic ring familiar. Wielding the mantle of common sense, again, President Trump announced that Washington is done footing the bill.

Politics didn't drive this decision. It was an act of mercy. — The Fantasy That Became a Money Pit — With an initial budget of $33 billion, the California High-Speed Rail Authority left the train station. Fifteen years down the track, that budget tripled. Two years later, those numbers became abstract. Depending on whom you ask, estimates ranged from $106 billion to $130 billion. There wasn't a concrete endpoint, literally or figuratively. The Left loved to point out just how little they perceived Trump's wall had been built, yet they've never discussed the only 119 miles of track that've been completed, from Madera to Bakersfield. That headline-making bullet train connects two California cities that many of the state's residents would have a hard time locating on a map. It's like a large company promising to build an unsinkable luxury cruise liner that ultimately sank due to arrogance. Yet, despite any rose-colored glasses, there isn't any good news. Trains are not running.

The Federal Railroad Administration declared the project to be "unviable" in its last audit. The oversight agency didn't throw a penalty flag; it dropped reality. — Newsom’s Vanity Project — I know, writing "Newsom" and "vanity" is redundant, but please bear with me. Despite the lack of progress, California Governor Gavin Newsom insists that the high-speed rail project remains viable. In 2019, he backpedaled from the full coast-to-coast plan and narrowed his goals to the Central Valley's "test section," calling it a proof of concept. That was years and another billion dollars ago. The proof of concept proved that the only thing proven was the state government's uncanny ability to waste money while declaring success. The dogged optimism that Newsom showed was more about his legacy than about transit. In the legend of his mind, this train project wasn't a policy failure. Instead, it's his Mount Rushmore defining moment. (…)

• More at: PJ Media - Trump Ends Boondoggle on Rails
https://pjmedia.com/david-manney/2025/07/16/trump-ends-boondoggle-on-rails-n4941827
KCRA NBC 3 News: Trump administration to block billions in funding for California's high-speed rail
https://www.kcra.com/article/trump-block-california-high-speed-rail-funding/64968811