In 2008, California progressives convinced a bare majority of voters to start an 800-mile high-speed rail service that would connect San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sacramento. It was to be finished in 2020.

Now, 17 years later, the project looks more like a con artist’s dream than transportation. Construction is inching along on a third of the route, a mere stub between Merced (population 93,000) and Bakersfield (population 413,000). The funding shortfall is nearly $100 billion, and President Donald Trump is about to cut off all federal funding.

UP Senior Fellow Wendell Cox authored a report for us last month that indicated the cost of California’s project will likely double again, to as much as $250 billion. The federal government needs to mercy kill this expensive boondoggle. No point in the rest of the nation supporting the project, whether with loans or grants, given the disastrous record we’ve seen so far. If Californians want a bullet train to nowhere, they can pay for it.