Not surprisingly, Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom blamed President Donald Trump for a $4 billion cut to California’s troubled high-speed train project. Instead, records show the state never bought the trains required to get the money.
That is the conclusion of an extensive CBS News investigation published Sunday about the California High Speed Rail Authority repeatedly missing federal grant deadlines to buy the trains, which turned out to be one of the key failures the Trump administration cited for legally pulling the funding a year ago.
Now, more than 18 months after the original deadline, the Authority still cannot say when it expects to award the train contract, CBS reported, with the state calling that date “TBD,” otherwise known as “to be determined.”
Approved by voters in 2008, the project was originally designed to link San Francisco and Los Angeles in less than three hours with electric trains able to reach speeds of 220 miles per hour.
Currently, there is no direct train service between the two major cities, and if someone wanted to try it by existing conventional lines, the trip could take up to 12 hours.
It looks as if it would still be a tedious trip even with the Golden State’s proposed high-speed rail plan.
Hellbound and Down 