Listen to this article

A 14 member group of the GOP from California has forwarded a letter to newly appointed Transportation Secretary, Elaine Chao. They asked in this letter for stopping the approval of a grant of 650 million U.S dollars dedicated for a supposed bullet train running between San Jose and San Francisco. This specific grant had gone to Caltrain agency of California last week. Now, this grant will be used to install an advanced power system for the future train system. The letter indicates that cost increases and a loop hole in the private funding have been considered the major reasons to postpone the project. The letter also pointed out that the high-speed rail plan was actually slated to run from San Diego to Sacramento and its cost was estimated at 33 billion U.S dollars.

Moreover, the plan has been revised by defining its new route from San Francisco to San Jose and its cost was estimated at 64 billion U.S dollars. The letter also mentioned concerns from the Federal Railroad Administration. They warned about a potential bump of 3.5 billion in the first part of the project, running from Shafter to Merced. The administration is currently providing extra funding to the authority and it is being used irresponsibly by them. The letter further indicated that in the light of new examination and FRA report, we request for not issuing more grant to California High-Speed Rail (Authority or State of California for high speed rail) until an entire audit of the project to be published in front of the public.