California’s High Speed Rail to Face Audit, US Transportation Chief Says

Los Angeles protesters defended the project as key to the state’s infrastructure. The transportation secretary said continued federal funding is at stake.

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy speaks during a press conference at Union Station in Los Angeles in a file photograph. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

LOS ANGELES—Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced he would direct the Federal Rail Administration (FRA) to conduct a compliance review of funding allocated to California’s long-embattled high-speed rail—and determine whether the project is worthy of continued federal investment.

“President [Donald] Trump has thought about this project,” Duffy said on Feb. 20 during a press conference with elected officials at Los Angeles’s historic Union Station. “I think he was very kind when he said this project has been mismanaged. I would agree.”