Trump terminates federal funding for California high-speed rail project

U.S. President Donald Trump announced the official termination of federal funding for the California high-speed rail project, which aimed to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles. The initiative, originally launched in 2008 during Arnold Schwarzenegger’s governorship, has faced escalating costs and significant delays over the years.

Speaking on social media platform X, Trump sharply criticised the project, calling it a "disastrously overpriced" and "ill-conceived" venture. He accused California Governor Gavin Newsom of incompetence and branded the rail plan a “scam” that has wasted taxpayers’ money without delivering any tangible results.

“To the law-abiding, tax-paying, hardworking citizens of the United States of America, I am thrilled to announce that I have officially freed you from funding California’s disastrously overpriced, ‘HIGH SPEED TRAIN TO NOWHERE,’” Trump wrote. “This boondoggle has cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, and we have received nothing in return except cost overruns.”

The president praised Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy for ensuring that no further federal dollars will support the project. Trump asserted that the project was “severely overpriced, overregulated, and never delivered,” promising taxpayers that federal funds would no longer finance what he described as a total waste of money.

By Vugar Khalilov