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Sean Duffy Criticizes Gavin Newsom's California High Speed Rail Project Update, Slams 'Monstrous $135 Billion' Spend: 'Train To Nowhere'

By Badar Shaikh | February 05, 2026, 10:50 PM

Transport Secretary Sean Duffy has slammed California Governor Gavin Newsom's (D) high-speed rail project, questioning its multi-billion-dollar spending.

Train To Nowhere

In a post on the social media platform X on Thursday, Duffy slammed Newsom’s updates. "Not a single high-speed track is installed for Gavin Newsom's TRAIN TO NOWHERE," he said, adding that the "big reveal" was nothing. He then slammed the project's spending.

"A monstrous $135 BILLION price tag," Duffy said, also sharing that $16 billion of which was paid for by federal taxpayers. He then sarcastically wished Newsom good luck, adding that federal taxpayers weren't "on the hook" for the project. "President Trump and I made sure of that," Duffy said at the end.

Gavin's big reveal… NOTHING‼️

Not a single high-speed track is installed for Gavin Newsom's TRAIN TO NOWHERE. A monstrous $135 BILLION price tag. And federal taxpayers spent $16 BILLION, for nothing.

Best of luck with your boondoggle @CAgovernor, but federal taxpayers aren't… https://t.co/LUa3xmJifN

— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) February 5, 2026

Gavin Newsom Shares Updates

The news comes as Newsom recently shared updates about California's high-speed rail project, saying that over 463 miles of the 494-mile phase 1 of the project were ready for construction, adding that the project has created over 16,400 jobs.

Newsom has faced off against the Donald Trump administration over the project, as the latter had earlier canceled $4 billion in funding for the project, for which he was sued, but the lawsuit was dismissed by a court. Trump had also termed the project to be "disastrously overpriced."

Union Pacific, WAB Deal

Meanwhile, Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE:UNP) and Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp. (NYSE:WAB) recently penned a $1.2 billion deal to modernize the AC4400 locomotives. The project is aimed at increasing the reliability and boosting the fuel efficiency.

Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.

Photo courtesy: Joshua Sukoff / Shutterstock.com

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