California has quietly dropped its lawsuit against the Trump administration after failing to claw back roughly $4 billion in federal funding that was pulled from the state’s long-delayed, wildly overbudget high-speed rail project. Instead of owning up to years of mismanagement, state officials are now blaming Washington for not being a “trustworthy” partner. That’s one way to spin it.
According to a Bloomberg report, the lawsuit stemmed from the Federal Railroad Administration’s decision to withdraw federal grants after determining that the California High-Speed Rail Authority had failed to meet key obligations amid endless delays and ballooning costs. In response, state officials claimed the Trump administration violated binding grant agreements—but have now opted to abandon the case altogether.
“This action reflects the State’s assessment that the federal government is not a reliable, constructive, or trustworthy partner in advancing high-speed rail in California,” a spokesperson for the rail authority said. Translation: the feds stopped writing blank checks.
The Federal Railroad Administration had warned that all work performed by the authority remained “at risk” of nonpayment, leading California officials to conclude that continued federal involvement wasn’t in the cards. Rather than fix the problems, the state decided to move forward without Trump administration backing—because accountability can really slow things down.
State officials even argued that federal oversight had added “cost and delays without adding value,” a bold claim considering the project’s own record. Approved by voters back in 2008 with a promised price tag of $33 billion, the rail project has since exploded to an estimated $128 billion. That’s not inflation—that’s incompetence.
An inspector general report cited by Bloomberg earlier this year found the system is unlikely to begin passenger service on its first segment before 2033 and faces a massive funding gap even before losing federal aid. So after nearly two decades, Californians still don’t have a train—but they do have a bill.
President Donald Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy have consistently called the project what many taxpayers already believe it to be: a “train to nowhere.” Trump didn’t mince words in a July post on Truth Social.
“The Railroad we were promised still does not exist, and never will,” Trump wrote. “This project was Severely Overpriced, Overregulated, and NEVER DELIVERED.”
At the end of the day, the Trump administration did what responsible leadership looks like: it stopped pouring taxpayer dollars into a project with no realistic path to completion. California may want to keep pretending this is about trust—but for the rest of the country, it’s about results.
And standing up for taxpayers? That’s a track worth staying on.
