California high-speed rail seeks federal funds despite Trump pulling back $4B

The authority in charge of California’s plagued high-speed rail project is seeking almost $400 million in federal funding — even after the Trump administration yanked $4 billion from the project last year.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority recently announced it had applied for $396 million from a Federal Railroad Administration Grant initiative to modernize U.S. rail infrastructure. Applications for the grant were due late last month.

That money would go to building specifically 30 miles of the rail project in the Central Valley from Madera to Merced.

“The project will improve safety, reliability, travel times and better connect the communities of the Central Valley of California,” an analysis of the rail extension claimed.

Alongside the hoped-for $396 million is a state match of $99 million from the state’s cap-and-trade program. In total, the extension would cost $495 million, with nearly 80% of it being federal money.

The proposed funding structure is a curious move given President Donald Trump and others in his administration have characterized California’s high-speed rail project as a “boondoggle.”

“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 had wrote on Truth Social when announcing the $4 billion withdrawal of federal money.

The California Post reached out to the federal Department of Transportation for comment on the new federal funding request.

The state’s rail project, which envisioned easy travel between the Bay Area and Los Angeles, is still far from finished after breaking ground in 2015. Meanwhile, costs for the original plan have ballooned past $200 billion, though the rail authority insists a reassessed project cost of $126.3 billion.

Republicans, including Trump, have painted the project as a symbol of wasteful government spending that has led to no results.

Still, it seems the state wants or even needs the federal government’s help. California has provided more than 80% of the $15 billion spent on the project so far, according to Railway Supply.

Rail authority CEO Ian Choudri told the Fresno Bee in June that he wanted federal cooperation.

“We do want” a federal partnership, he said. “I invite our federal partners to come and see, and then work with us, collaborate with us.”

Choudri, who is embroiled in a domestic violence controversy, noted how other countries’ rail systems had support from the national government.

“The administrations change over time, but the programs keep moving,” Choudri said. “Treat this as the American infrastructure project, and then we will provide you all the information you need.”