Staff Reports
The Biden administration’s fondness for spending taxpayer dollars on high-speed rail is alive and well, as evidenced by the recent $60 million grant awarded to Amtrak for the beleaguered Texas High-Speed Rail project. This venture, which has seen more potholes than progress since its inception, looks less like a train set and more like a money pit. The Federal Railroad Administration has coughed up $63.9 million just as the project’s original private funding appears to have evaporated faster than the administration can say “infrastructure investment.”
The Texas High-Speed Rail Corridor project, which has been the poster child for federal overreach and misguided investment, seems caught in a perpetual state of limbo. Since it began to unravel under Texas Central, the chosen private operator, industry insiders have watched executives leave the sinking ship, leaving observers to wonder if Texas Central hired a conductor for the job or just someone with a flair for dramatic exits. With the grant coming in after years of futile attempts to secure private investment, it’s like throwing good money after bad, an approach that doesn’t quite scream fiscal responsibility, especially when the federal budget deficit is lurking ominously at nearly $2 trillion.
Also:@GavinNewsom 's high speed rail project:
✅10 years late.
✅$100 billion over budget
for
✅A MUCH SHORTER ROUTE!!!!!🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡 https://t.co/mNid7ivUiu pic.twitter.com/q7xDAykuVw
— Biggy Johnson 🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@Biggie_Johnson6) August 27, 2024
Exceeding its original budget of $10 billion, the project is now estimated to balloon costs to a staggering $40 billion. This isn’t just a budgetary flop—it’s a case study of how not to manage public funds. Experts argue that instead of padding the coffers of a project that barely scrapes together 1.6% of the needed private investment, this money could be better spent on practical improvements. There’s a laundry list of essential services crying out for attention—like repairing schools, bolstering border security, or even providing healthcare to veterans. But instead, this administration seems committed to transforming Texas into a ghost town of oversized train stations.
Others have been equally astounded by the need for more planning and foresight surrounding the project. Despite the initial premise that it would operate without the crutch of government funds, it seems Texas Central has had a change of heart, leaving taxpayers on the hook while they pursue environmentally questionable plans to cut through farmland using eminent domain. As if to add salt to the wound, critics have pointed out that the potential farmland destruction should cause alarm, especially in today’s climate of global food shortages. It’s a wonder this initiative isn’t being held up at a rural town meeting, where residents could point out the obvious flaws in a plan that threatens their livelihoods.
Construction delays are piling up like so much kindling on a cold Texas night, mainly due to the inability to secure the necessary land for the proposed route. Not only has the Texas Central yet to acquire 60% of the required land, but the Texas Supreme Court recently granted them eminent domain powers, enabling them to seize farming land that has belonged to families for generations. Talk about taking the train right through the heart of rural communities without so much as a “howdy.”
And let’s not forget the impressive government backing for other failed rail projects, like the California high-speed railway debacle that has been floundering since 2008, or the proposed route between Southern California and Las Vegas, which is rich only in estimates and expense reports rather than actual results. The Biden administration’s track record is giving new meaning to “slow train coming,” as even those at the highest levels of government seem to have gotten lost along the way. In a time when efficiency and accountability are paramount, one must wonder what exactly the administration is trying to accomplish with this never-ending rail saga.
