The state’s signature “green” project, now close to 20 years old, has yet to lay an inch of track<\/a>.<\/p>\n But the delusions keep chugging along.<\/p>\n Coming soon since 2008! High-speed rail in California. California High-Speed Rail Authority<\/p>\n The state’s signature “green” project, now close to 20 years old, has yet to lay an inch of track. Getty Images<\/p>\n The California High Speed Rail authority has asked the feds for a grant of almost $400 million to help build 30 miles of track<\/a> between Madera and Merced, The California Post reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n Really.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even after President Donald Trump boasted of rescinding $4 billion from the long-stalled project last year, calling it a “disastrously overpriced, ‘HIGH SPEED TRAIN TO NOWHERE,'” on Truth Social.<\/p>\n California would do better to drop the pretense, halt the project and reroute rail spending to more pressing state needs.<\/p>\n The California High Speed Rail authority has asked the feds for a grant of almost $400 million to help build 30 miles of track between Madera and Merced, The California Post reported. Reuters<\/p>\n The project got another smackdown from the feds this week, with a US Department of Transportation spokesman noting the effort has squandered billions of taxpayer dollars while producing “nothing.”<\/p>\n It’s hard to quibble with that take.<\/p>\n Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters<\/p>\n California Post News: Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, TikTok<\/a>, X<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, WhatsApp<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a> Team Trump added that it broadly supports high-speed, but will not back the California boondoggle.<\/p>\n The “Train to Nowhere” is a longtime laughingstock, after all.<\/p>\n Team Trump added that it broadly supports high-speed, but will not back the California boondoggle. California High-Speed Rail Authority<\/p>\n The grand vision was sold to California voters as a way to zip between LA and San Francisco, at a total-build cost of $33 billion to $45 billion.<\/p>\n In the years since, the rail authority has shrunk the project focus to a Central Valley stretch between Merced and Bakersfield \u2014 and revised the total-build cost to $126.3 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n But wait, there’s more, as project planners continue to spend more and promise less.<\/p>\n The rail authority confirmed in June that the current proposed route will stop short of downtown Merced and downtown Bakersfield \u2014 ending several miles from each city center at lower-cost “interim” locations.<\/p>\n The grand vision was sold to California voters as a way to zip between LA and San Francisco, at a total-build cost of $33 billion to $45 billion. Governor Gavin Newsom’s Office<\/p>\n That will make the train, if track is ever laid, even less accessible for those who might use it.<\/p>\n So the Train to Nowhere has become the train that doesn’t even quite get to Nowhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n What’s the point of pushing this pathetic effort further?<\/p>\n There’s no great need for it, when travelers can drive, fly or ride existing rail.<\/p>\n And it’s long since become a farce.<\/p>\n Spare the taxpayers and end it already.<\/p>\n![\"Coming](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/california_post_772\/1701db85684e725ce288e0ea72d76696.jpeg\"\/)
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