Trump administration pulls $4B in federal funding for California’s bullet train project

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Trump administration revoked federal funding for California’s high-speed rail project on Wednesday, intensifying uncertainty about how the state will make good on its long-delayed promise of building a bullet train to shuttle riders between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

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The U.S. Transportation Department announced it was pulling back $4 billion in funding for the project, weeks after signaling it would do so. Overall, a little less than a quarter of the project’s funding has come from the federal government. The rest has come from the state, mainly through a voter-approved bond and money from its cap-and-trade program.

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President Donald Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy both have slammed the project as a “train to nowhere.”

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“The Railroad we were promised still does not exist, and never will,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This project was Severely Overpriced, Overregulated, and NEVER DELIVERED.”

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The loss marks the latest blow to California by the Trump administration, which has blocked a first-in-the-nation rule to phase out the sale of new gas-powered cars, launched investigations into university admission policies and threatened to pull funding over transgender girls being allowed to compete in girls sports.

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It also comes as rail project leaders are seeking private investment to help pay for its estimated price tag of more than $100 billion.

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Voters first approved the project in 2008 and it was supposed to be operating this decade. But cost estimates have consistently grown and its timeline pushed back.

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State officials are now focused on building a 119-mile (192-kilometer) stretch connecting the Central Valley cities of Bakersfield and Merced that is set to be operating by 2033. The California High Speed Rail Authority is slated to release a report this summer to state lawmakers with an updated funding plan and timeline for the project.

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Authority officials wrote in a letter earlier this month that the Trump administration made up its mind about revoking funding before thoroughly reviewing the project. They noted that more than 50 structures have already been built, including underpasses, viaducts and bridges to separate the rail line from roadways for safety.

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“Canceling these grants without cause isn’t just wrong _ it’s illegal,” authority CEO Ian Choudri said in a statement Wednesday. “These are legally binding agreements, and the Authority has met every obligation, as confirmed by repeated federal reviews, as recently as February 2025.”

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The authority has asked potential private investors to express their interest by the end of the month.

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Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state will keep “all options on the table” to fight the revocation of federal funds.

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“Trump wants to hand China the future and abandon the Central Valley. We won’t let him,” he said in a statement.

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The state has “no viable plan” to complete even the Central Valley segment, said Drew Feeley, acting administrator of the transportation department’s Federal Railroad Administration, in a report released last month. He called the project a “story of broken promises” and a waste of taxpayer dollars.