Already heavy due to chronic delays, the high -speed line project between San Francisco and Los Angeles, of just over 600 kilometers to connect at 2:40, runs the risk of slowing down considerably. The Trump administration really revoked the federal financing of $ 4 billion on Wednesday. It is not really a surprise since the US President and his Minister of Transportation Sean Duffy have repeatedly shown their hostility to this infrastructure project, calling it “train to any place.”
This fault occurs when the managers of the railway project seek additional private investments to finance their estimated cost at more than $ 100 billion. Recall that it is the state of California that invests the most in the project initiated in … 2008 (especially through CO2 issuance quotas bought by polluting companies), while the total federal subsidies represented a quarter of the financing. It should be recognized that the project is fighting to materialize and the inhabitants of the richest state in the United States have not yet seen the shadow of a train.
A cost that exploded housing $ 113 billion
The work is progressing very slowly, while the provisional budget explodes: now we are talking about $ 113 billion against 33 initially planned, including geographical and topographic limitations.
The officials of the California high -speed rail authority wrote in a letter earlier this month that the Trump administration had decided to revoke funds before examining the in -depth project. They pointed out that more than 50 structures had already been built, including underground passages, viaducts and bridges to separate the railway rail line for safety.
“Waste”
For the Trump administration, on the contrary, the situation is unsustainable. California does not have “viable plan” to finish even the Central Valley section, said Drew Feeley, an interim administrator of the Federal Railway Administration of the Ministry of Transportation, in a report published last month. This section of 192 kilometers is assumed that connects the cities of Bakersfield and Merced, in the Central Valley, will be put into service in 2033 when it was going to be operational in 2020. For Feeley, these are “uninformed promises” and taxpayers’ waste.
The opening of the new line scheduled for 2028 – year when angels must accommodate the Olympics – US President Joe Biden, who has the railroad, had announced with large fanfare, which has the railroad to reduce the climate impact of transport, in a country where the individual car remains hegemonic. The authority asked the possible private investors to demonstrate their interest to save the project, while Democratic governor Gavin Newsom said the State would maintain “all options on the table” to challenge the revocation of federal funds.
Meanwhile, the future of the line is pending. Just when the contract won by the German Siemens for the supply of the first trains of ten speeds.
Source: BFM TV
