“Our new Nationwide Railroad Partnership Program will emphasize security – our primary precedence – with out the novel … DEI and inexperienced grant necessities. As an alternative of losing {dollars} on Governor Newsom’s high-speed rail boondoggle, these focused investments will enhance the lives of rail passengers, native drivers, and pedestrians,” Duffy stated.
The most important chunk of this cash, the Federal Railroad Administration introduced, comes from the $4 billion that was pulled from the California mission. The remainder of the cash comes from a mixture of what was introduced final yr and what’s on this yr’s finances.
President Donald Trump and Duffy have each criticized the decades-old California mission for its value overruns and lots of delays which have stored the practice that’s designed to attach San Francisco and Los Angeles from changing into a actuality.
California officers stated they may battle the hassle to redistribute cash they imagine ought to be going to their mission. They’d already filed a lawsuit difficult the Trump administration’s resolution to drag federal funding from the rail mission.
“The FRA’s resolution to terminate federal funding for California high-speed rail was illegal, unwarranted, and is being challenged in federal courtroom. Now, their try and redirect a portion of that funding, presently the topic of litigation, is untimely,” stated Micah Flores, a spokesman for the California Excessive-Pace Rail Authority. “The Authority has been ready for this chance and can take imminent authorized motion to dam this misguided effort by the FRA.”
