Trump Targets $128 Billion California High-Speed Rail Project

The Trump administration has launched a review of California’s high-speed rail project, adding to long-standing doubts about whether the venture, plagued by cost overruns and delays, will ever be completed.

The Federal Railroad Administration will investigate the project through a compliance and performance review, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced on Thursday. In 2008, the California High-Speed Rail Authority estimated the initiative would cost $33 billion and begin service by 2020, and voters approved $9 billion of bonds for the project. However, only 119 miles of the planned 776-mile railroad has commenced construction so far. Meanwhile, the current cost estimate ranges from $89 billion to $128 billion, according to the authority.