Despite President Trump’s action to cut billions in federal funding for the California High-Speed Rail project, a new poll finds that 62% of registered voters in the state – and 80% of Democrats – support continuing to build what advocacy group US High Speed Rail calls “America’s first solar-powered electric bullet train”.
On 16 July, US Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced that the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) had terminated grants amounting to around $4bn, saying not one high-speed track had been laid after 16 years and roughly $15bn having been spent.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) called the termination illegal and sued the Trump administration.
California governor Gavin Newsom, a champion of the project, said Duffy’s action came as the project enters the track-laying phase.
He said CHSRA had built more than 50 major railway structures including bridges, overpasses, and viaducts, and finished some 60 miles of guideway.
The 494-mile first phase of the railway would connect San Francisco in the north to Los Angeles and Anaheim in the south, but CHSRA is aiming first to open an “initial operating segment” between Merced and Bakersfield in the state’s Central Valley by 2033.
Most age groups want it
Among age groups, the poll showed that 79% of Gen Zers (people aged 13-28), 72% of Millennials (29-44), 56% of Gen Xers (45-60), and 48% of Baby Boomers (61-79) want to continue the project.
The voter survey by the Politico-Citrin Center Possibility Lab at UC Berkeley found that a third of Democratic voters said they back high-speed rail even though it means using more state money to make up for federal funding cuts.
Around 38% of Democrats said their support depends on the project meeting its current budget.
The railway’s estimated cost has risen from around $33bn in 2008 to more than $100bn today.
To date, just under a quarter of the railway’s funding has come from the federal government, the AP news agency reports.
‘Time has come to complete’
“Despite delays and relentless attacks, California voters continue to support a world-class electric high-speed train that will reduce congestion, improve air quality, create thousands of good-paying jobs, and revitalise communities across the state,” said Ray LaHood, former US Secretary of Transportation and Co-Chair of US High Speed Rail.
“This new poll shows that the time has come for California to complete this transformative project.”
The latest survey results for all voters is down on the last Politico-Citrin Center poll in April, which recorded 67% of all voters supporting the mega project.
The new poll was conducted by TrueDot.ai platform between 28 July and 12 August. Verasight selected 1,445 registered voters at random, with interviews conducted in English and Spanish. The modeled error estimate for the full sample is plus or minus 2.6%.
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