Trump administration wants to hand out $2.4 billion it took from California’s high-speed railroad

The Trump administration wishes to redistribute 2.4 billion dollars which it withdrew from the California high -speed railway project as part of a new $ 5 billion program announced on Monday to finance rail projects to stimulate passenger rail traffic at the national level.

The rules of the new program for states and other wishes to participate remove any mention of diversity or climate change dating from the Biden administration. The new program will also put a priority for projects in areas with higher birth and marriage rates and projects that improve security to crossings.

The Trump administration has removed climate change and the so-called the dei language of the other requirements of the subsidy, and the Secretary of Transports Sean Duffy took a hit in this announcement of the Biden era and California, the railway project of Governor Gavin Newsom in his announcement.

“Our new national program of rail partnerships will focus on security – our number one priority – without radical requirements … Dei and Green Grant. Instead of wasting dollars on high -speed rail boondoggy from Governor Newsom, these targeted investments will improve the lives of rail passengers, local drivers and pedestrians, “said Duffy.

The biggest piece of this money that the Federal Railroad administration has announced comes from $ 4 billion from the Californian project. The rest of the money comes from a combination of what was announced last year and what is in this year’s budget.

President Donald Trump and Duffy both criticized the Californian project for several decades for his cost overruns and many delays that prevented the train designed to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles from becoming a reality.

Californian officials said they would fight on efforts to redistribute funds which, they say, should go to their project. They had already filed a legal action contesting the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw federal funding from the railway project.

“The FRA’s decision to end federal funding for Californian high speed rail was illegal, unjustified and was challenged before the Federal Court. Now, their attempt to redire the part of this funding, currently the subject of the dispute, is premature, “said Micah Flores, spokesperson for California Speed ​​Speed ​​Speed ​​Speed ​​Rail Authority. “Authority has been prepared for this possibility and will take an imminent legal action to block this erroneous effort by the FRA.”

Emphasis on the areas with higher birth and marriage rates reflects Trump’s decrees that make expenditure that benefits American families a priority in his administration, according to a spokesperson for the FRA.

The Federal Railroad Administration said that railway level crossings were important to solve because more than 200 people per year are killed when trains collided with vehicles or pedestrians at level passages. It has long been something that the government and the railways have worked to contact, but it is expensive to build bridges or sub-skirts that allow cars to bypass the tracks safely.

Even if the money aims to improve passenger rails, some of them will almost certainly go to improve the main freight railways in the country because Amtrak uses their tracks for most of its long distance paths across the country.

The administration has also said that it would prioritize projects that improve travel experience for families by adding equipment such as breastfed mothers, widened waiting areas and children’s playgrounds in stations.

The requests for this money are due before January 7.

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The writer Associated Press Sophie Austin contributed to this Sacramento, California report.