Trump team derails Baltimore-D.C. high-speed plan

The Transportation Department said Friday it canceled grants for the “doomed” Baltimore-D.C. high-speed rail project.

A release put out by the department said it was scrapping the two grants totaling $26 million for the proposed Baltimore-Washington Superconducting Magnetic Levitation project “after nearly a decade of poor planning, significant community opposition, tremendous cost overruns and nothing to show for it.”

It said the Federal Railroad Administration determined the project “would result in significant, unresolvable impacts to federal agencies and federal property, including security agencies.”

“We want big, beautiful projects worthy of taxpayer dollars — including high-speed rail,” Secretary Sean Duffy said. “This project lacked everything needed to be a success, from planning to execution.”

He said the project didn’t have the facilities “to go the distance, and I can’t in good conscience keep taxpayers on the hook for it.”

The $20 billion plan was supposed to conclude with a train connecting Baltimore to the nation’s capital in 15 minutes along a 36-mile route.

“However, based on agency feedback, FRA has concluded the Project, as planned, will result in significant, unresolvable impacts to federal agencies and federal property. In addition, given the substantial delay and cost overruns associated with the Project, FRA does not see a viable path to continue investment in the Project,” a letter to the Maryland Department of Transportation from the FRA said.

The grant was obligated in 2016, but since then the project was plagued by delays and cost overruns. The environmental review process paused twice.

The release said the project would affect critical infrastructure and missions from the National Security Agency, Fort George G. Meade, NASA, the Department of Agriculture, the Secret Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service and the Labor Department.

In a letter back to the FRA, MDOT said it “understands that FRA’s decision reflects the significant challenges posed by the project, including substantial impacts to federal agencies and federal property.”

Last month, President Trump announced federal funding would also be pulled for California’s high-speed rail project.

“To the Law abiding, Tax paying, Hardworking Citizens of the United States of America, I am thrilled to announce that I have officially freed you from funding California’s disastrously overpriced, ’HIGH SPEED TRAIN TO NOWHERE.’ This boondoggle, led by the incompetent Governor of California, Gavin Newscum, has cost Taxpayers Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we have received NOTHING in return except Cost Overruns,” Mr. Trump posted on social media.

“The Railroad we were promised still does not exist, and never will. This project was Severely Overpriced, Overregulated, and NEVER DELIVERED,” he said. “Thanks to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, not a SINGLE penny in Federal Dollars will go towards this Newscum SCAM ever again. This was an ill-conceived and unnecessary project, and a total waste of Taxpayer money — But no more!”

The California project was estimated to be $135 billion. The Transportation Department announced the FRA terminated roughly $4 billion in unspent federal funding for the project.