WASCO, Calif. (KGET) \u2014 California Gov. Gavin Newsom made another visit to the Central Valley Tuesday, this time to celebrate what he called \u201csignificant progress\u201d toward the completion of the High Speed Rail project.<\/p>\n
Newsom was in Wasco where he, local leaders and railway workers said the new rail track could be laid as soon as this summer.<\/p>\n
Watch 17 News, After Sunrise and more local news free on your smart TV. Click to learn more about KGET+ <\/a><\/p>\n The project has faced funding issues and cuts from the Trump administration and criticism from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.<\/p>\n Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez and Bakersfield Vice Mayor Manpreet Kaur joined Newsom in celebrating the next steps in the railway project.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is wonderful to be joined today by the real workers, the families that are enjoying mortgage paying wages as a result of this incredible evolution in transportation,\u201d Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez said.<\/p>\n Bakersfield Vice Mayor Manpreet Kaur celebrated the investments the high speed rail could one day provide for Central Valley.<\/p>\n California high-speed rail federal funding could be cut off <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cInfrastructure offers us abundance,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd today this infrastructure is offering California that abundance. It\u2019s an abundance that is going to be new energy to our Kern County, to our city of Bakersfield.\u201d<\/p>\n The railways in the outskirts of Wasco will be used to help transport materials like steel and railing to other construction sites in the Central Valley. The High Speed Rail contains 800 miles of track with the goal of connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n \u201cI have your back and I want to keep coming back,\u201d Newsom said. \u201cThis was a cornerstone of that commitment, and that\u2019s why I\u2019m grateful as well to the legislature broadly, because the key to this project was stabilizing the financial commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n In Kern County, a secondary track will connect the city of Bakersfield with Merced. Voters approved $9 billion for the project back in 2008 and many have questioned if the project will ever meet its promises.<\/p>\n The federal government has pulled $4 billion in funding, but Newsom said that was the wrong decision.<\/p>\n \u201cThey talk about the backbone of America being in rural America, and yet they\u2019re abandoning this project,\u201d Newsom said. \u201cThey took $4 billion from you that the other administration legally appropriated.\u201d<\/p>\n