A new high-speed train proposal hopes to link Los Angeles and New York City in time for the FIFA World Cup and celebrations for the United States&#8217; 250th birthday next year.
AmeriStarRail, based in Delaware, proposed the plan to Amtrak, as well as to President Donald Trump, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and Congress, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/high-speed-rail-new-york-los-angeles-2093565">according</a> to Newsweek.
The train, called the &#8220;Transcontinental Chief,&#8221; would be funded entirely by private investors, not taxpayers, and would transport both passengers and commercial trucks.
&#8220;The Transcontinental Chief will be a great opportunity for Amtrak to team up with the private sector to confront the challenges of its money-losing long-distance trains and create opportunities to usher in a profitable Golden Age of rail travel for passengers and truckers, with the ingenuity of free enterprise, as we celebrate our great nation&#8217;s 250th birthday next year,&#8221; AmeriStarRail Chief Operating Officer Scott Spencer said in a letter to Amtrak.
The train would rely on existing infrastructure from host railroads and include stops at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Chicago, and the Grand Canyon. Amtrak has not yet responded to the proposal, Newsweek reported.
The plan contrasts with another high-speed train project in California, which risks losing its federal funding after failing to make progress for more than a decade, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-ready-to-pull-the-plug-on-california-high-speed-rail-boondoggle">reported</a>.
Despite receiving about $4 billion for the 800-mile project since 2010, the state has &#8220;not laid a single high-speed track,&#8221; <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/trumps-transportation-secretary-sean-p-duffy-releases-report-exposing-no-viable-path">according</a> to the Trump administration.
When voters approved the project in 2008, the estimated cost was $33 billion. Now, the projected cost has swelled to $128 billion, leaving California about $100 billion short, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-03-21/high-speed-rail">according</a> to the Los Angeles Times.
The state is currently trying to build the first segment of the project, a 119-mile track connecting Merced to Bakersfield. The estimated completion date is 2033, but the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) says the state doesn&#8217;t have &#8220;a viable path&#8221; to finishing the first phase by the deadline.
California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who promoted the train when he was mayor of San Francisco, said in May that workers have begun the first phase of the project, &#8220;laying the tracks to get to where they start to lay the tracks.&#8221;
&#8220;It’s a technical way of actually doing the development in phases, so real tracks are being laid, and the formal track that will be the first-in-the-nation high-speed rail track is about to take place,&#8221; Newsom said.
A California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) spokesperson told The Daily Wire in June that the agency remains &#8220;firmly committed&#8221; to the project.
In its response to the FRA, the CHSRA disputed the findings and requested that the agency withdraw the proposed termination of federal funds.
&#8220;The Authority’s work has already reshaped the Central Valley,&#8221; the CHSRA&#8217;s response said. &#8220;We have built many of the viaducts, overpasses, and underpasses on which the first 119 miles of high-speed rail track will run.&#8221;

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Proposed ‘High-Speed’ Train Would Bring Passengers From NYC To L.A. In Three Days

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Bucking the intent of the incoming Trump administration to cut down on unnecessary expenditures, California Democrats in Congress sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urging him to hurry and approve additional funding for California’s floundering high-speed rail project.
On November 30, the incoming Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, noted on X:
<blockquote>
Summary of California High Speed Rail Project: Originally projected (in 2008) to cost $33 billion; now projected to cost between $88.5 and $127.9 billion. Estimated completion date was 2020; as of 2024, zero passengers have been transported and the majority has not even been fully designed. Received $6.8 billion in federal funds. Requesting $8 billion in additional federal funds.
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Summary of California High Speed Rail Project: -Originally projected (in 2008) to cost $33 billion; now projected to cost between $88.5 and $127.9 billion -Estimated completion date was 2020; as of 2024, zero passengers have been transported and the majority has not even been…
&mdash; Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) <a href="https://twitter.com/DOGE/status/1862883821798002786?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Those estimates were similar to what the <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/republicans-high-speed-rail-19983744.php">San Francisco Chronicle</a> reported. The media outlet said that the cost of building California’s largely unfinished high-speed rail line — of which California Democrat governor Gavin Newsom <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/08/10/governor-newsom-and-new-high-speed-rail-ceo-celebrate-caltrains-electrification-as-key-part-of-high-speed-rail-plan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bragged</a>, “We’re making rail real in California” — was initially estimated at $33 billion, has now ballooned to over $100 billion.
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“On Friday, Democratic lawmakers Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, and Reps. Pete Aguilar, Jim Costa, and Zoe Lofgren sent a letter to Buttigieg calling on him to approve funding for the first phase of the project,” the Sacramento Bee <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article297401585.html#campaignName=sacramento_morning_newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> on Monday. The <a href="https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/padilla-schiff-california-house-colleagues-push-for-critical-high-speed-rail-funding/">letter</a> asked for $536 million in federal funds, acknowledging, “The FSP-National grant application is part of an ongoing federal-state partnership that has provided approximately $28.8 billion in funding for California High-Speed Rail, including $22 billion from state funds and $6.8 billion from federal funds. &#8230; By preparing for future final design and construction of complex tunnels in this corridor, the Project will advance both state and federal goals to improve safety, expand economic strength and global competitiveness, address equity issues, and implement sustainability practices to confront climate change.”
“The project has struggled in recent years with obtaining federal funding, and it has been beset with both delays and cost overruns. It’s [sic] initial scope — of a high-speed rail line from Los Angeles to San Francisco — has been reduced to the first step of a planned route from Merced to Bakersfield,” the Bee <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article296622469.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a>.
Last week, Newsom <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/newsom-mocks-doge-brags-about-california-here-are-some-facts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mocked</a> DOGE, saying of it, “I dunno, this is like a promo project.”

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BUCKING DOGE: CA Dems Beg Buttigieg To Give $536M To High-Speed Rail Before He’s Gone

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Proposed ‘High-Speed’ Train Would Bring Passengers From NYC To L.A. In Three Days

BUCKING DOGE: CA Dems Beg Buttigieg To Give $536M To High-Speed Rail Before He’s Gone