The California high-speed rail project is heading for failure! Trump stated that no money will be allocated for this project at all! On July 17, according to foreign media reports, Trump announced that the federal government would terminate funding for the California high-speed rail construction project, calling it a "scam" and stating that the federal government would not invest even a penny in this "scam." This mess has cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, and we have gained nothing except for cost overruns. The railway promised back then has still not been built and will never be built.
Evidently, with Trump's announcement, the matter of building a high-speed rail in California will get no money from the federal government. If the California government wants to continue building, all the money will have to come from California itself. Although Trump said the project has cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, this is not true, but the project has indeed progressed too slowly.
Since the California high-speed rail project was approved in 2008, it has repeatedly faced delays and funding shortages. After 17 years of construction, the project has only completed about 35 kilometers of embankment work and 11 overpasses, and no full track has been laid yet. How much has this project cost so far? A total of approximately $16 billion has been spent so far. Given this slow progress, it's no wonder that Trump called the project a scam. Why is it so difficult to build a high-speed rail in the United States? There are mainly three reasons.
First, private land ownership in the United States makes land acquisition extremely difficult. Second, environmental litigation procedures are complicated, and each independent section must go through individual environmental impact report reviews before construction can begin. Third, resistance from interest groups. If the project were actually completed, it would affect industries such as cars, road construction, oil, and aviation, and these interest groups are making all sorts of obstacles to hinder the project. Although the United States is a global superpower, in fact, the country has no experience in building high-speed rail, and there is a lack of construction experience. According to the current situation, the ambitious California high-speed rail project is likely to end in failure.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1837876933121115/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.