US president blasts long-delayed challenge to hyperlink Los Angeles and San Francisco as a ‘boondoggle’ and a ‘prepare to nowhere’.
United States President Donald Trump has pulled the plug on $4bn in funding for a long-delayed high-speed rail line in California, blasting the challenge as a “boondoggle” and a “prepare to nowhere”.
Trump mentioned in a social media publish on Wednesday that he had “freed” taxpayers from the “disastrously overpriced” proposed railway linking Los Angeles and San Francisco, which has been tormented by delays and value overruns.
“This boondoggle, led by the incompetent Governor of California, Gavin Newscum, has value Taxpayers Lots of of Billions of {Dollars}, and we now have obtained NOTHING in return besides Value Overruns,” Trump wrote on Reality Social, utilizing a nickname he generally deploys to mock the state’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom.
“The Railroad we had been promised nonetheless doesn’t exist, and by no means will.”
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy accused Democrats of losing taxpayers’ cash and mentioned federal cash was not a “clean cheque”.
“It’s time for this boondoggle to die,” Duffy mentioned in an announcement.
Newsom slammed the Trump administration’s transfer as unlawful and mentioned the state would put “all choices on the desk” to oppose the funding lower.
“Trump desires at hand China the longer term and abandon the Central Valley. We gained’t let him,” Newsom mentioned in an announcement.
The 1,249km (776-mile) rail line, which was permitted by California voters in a 2008 plebiscite, was initially envisaged for completion in 2020 at a value of $33bn.
The challenge’s estimated value has since ballooned to $89bn to $128bn, with providers not anticipated to start till 2033 on the earliest.
The US at the moment doesn’t have a high-speed rail service, however a 354km (220-mile) high-speed hyperlink between Los Angeles and Las Vegas is scheduled to start operations in 2028.
