California Sues After Trump Administration Abandons High Speed Train

The California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) sued the Trump administration last week over its termination of $4 billion in federal grants which were needed to fund the state’s high-speed rail project.

Is the Train to Nowhere at the End of Its Tracks?

The train would have linked Los Angeles, Anaheim, and San Francisco.

Gov. Newsom said in a press release that the move is politically motivated.

“Trump’s termination of federal grants for California high-speed rail reeks of politics,” Gov. Newsom wrote. “It’s yet another political stunt to punish California.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office filed the complaint in the federal Eastern District of California court in Sacramento on July 17, a day after U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Sean Duffy announced that the grants would be cancelled.

Defendants named in the complaint include Duffy, the DOT, and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).

“On February 4, 2025, shortly after President Trump began his second term, he issued a statement indicating that he intended to start an investigation of the California high-speed rail project,” Bonta wrote in the lawsuit. “The President wrongly asserted that the project was ‘hundreds of billions of dollars over budget, and that it would be cheaper to take passengers between San Francisco and Los Angeles by limousine’.”

The Biden-Harris Administration pledged $6 billion towards building the high-speed train two years ago.

16 Years, $15 Billion Spent, No Track Laid

But Duffy alleged in a press release that after 16 years and roughly $15 billion spent, not one high speed track has been laid by the CHSRA.

“The State of California and the High Speed Rail Authority are in breach of contract for not completing the project and for multibillion dollar cost overruns,” former member of the California State Assembly Chuck DeVore said.

DeVore, who is currently Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) director of national initiatives, voted against the High Speed Rail System as a Republican California Assemblyman and drafted the ballot language opposing the project.

He lived in Irvine while representing the 70th District from 2004 to 2010, which includes portions of Orange County.

“I viewed it as a big waste of money,” DeVore told OrangeCountyLawyers.com. “There’s not a lot of demand for a San Francisco to Los Angeles commuter train when regional airlines can make the trip in less time at a comparable price. Depending on the nature of travel, you’d still have to rent a car or use a taxi or Uber or Lyft once you were at your destination.”

The CHRSA tweeted on X that more than 50 major structures are complete and 171 miles are under active construction and design.

“This is no time for Washington to walk away on America’s transportation future,” the CHRSA post stated.

Plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgement, a set aside of the termination decision, a preliminary injunction and a permanent injunction that prevents the transfer of the grants to another cause.

Rep. Kevin Kiley, a Republican who represents California’s 3rd Congressional District at the Nevada/California border, asked FBI Director Kash Patel to investigate in March.

In his letter, Kiley said the California High-Speed Rail should have been completed in 2020.

“We won,” Kiley said in a tweet on X. “Federal funding for the CA High-Speed Rail catastrophe has officially been terminated.”

Gov. Newsom defended the project saying that terminating the grants is a heartless attack on the Central Valley and that it is putting real jobs and livelihoods on the line.

“We’re suing to stop Trump from derailing America’s only high-speed rail actively under construction,” Gov. Newsom added.

Photo courtesy of CHSRA X account