“Most Poorly Managed Project I’ve Ever Witnessed” – One America News Network
OAN Staff Blake Wolf
12:04 PM – Wednesday, February 5, 2025
President Donald Trump announced plans on Tuesday to investigate California’s protracted and expensive “High-Speed Rail Project,” citing the staggering amount of taxpayer money expended with minimal progress made.
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“The train being built between Los Angeles and San Francisco is arguably the worst-managed project I’ve ever encountered, and I have seen my fair share of failures,” Trump declared.
“We’re talking about billions and billions, hundreds of billions, over budget,” Trump continued. “We will commence a comprehensive investigation because I’ve never witnessed anything quite like this.”
Trump confirmed that Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), will not spearhead the investigation.
California has allocated over $10 billion to the project, which is now projected to cost as much as $128 billion, with no anticipated completion date — as stated in a press release from the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
The project gained voter approval in 2008, originally estimated to total around $33 billion, but has since faced drastic cost overruns and substantial delays, often without adequate justifications for the updates.
“Voters were assured that the California High-Speed Rail project would amount to $33 billion and be finished by 2020. Fifteen years later, it has evolved into one of the most problematic ‘megaprojects’ in the nation,” the Senate’s communication added.
In the face of skyrocketing costs and significant delays, a representative from the California High-Speed Rail Authority provided a comment, sidestepping Trump’s criticisms.
“Currently, 171 miles of the high-speed rail project are underway in design and construction, creating over 14,600 quality jobs and involving more than 880 small businesses in the initiative,” stated the spokesperson. “Of the approximately $13 billion disbursed for the project, $10.5 billion has been sourced entirely from California’s state funds — not ‘hundreds of billions’— and this spending has yielded an economic impact exceeding $22 billion, primarily benefiting communities in California’s Central Valley.”
Furthermore, Trump expressed concerns regarding the project’s lack of a solid development proposal, noting that the goal was to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco, yet the agency has not secured the necessary funding to link the rail to these major cities.
“Now it doesn’t even extend to San Francisco or Los Angeles. They’ve shortened the route significantly,” Trump remarked. “Now it’s located in smaller, more remote areas far from these cities.”
At present, the only definitive plans include continued construction from Bakersfield to Merced, as California’s regulatory landscape continues to complicate the project.
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