TSA Trolls Gavin Newsom Over California’s High Speed Rail Money Pit

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) trolled Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) over the high-speed rail project that has been steadily rising in cost despite showing little progress over the course of nearly two decades.

Newsom jabbed at the TSA first, boasting in a press conference that nearly 11 years after the project’s 2015 ground-breaking, 463 miles of the planned route were finally ready for construction to begin — and saying that eventually, passengers on his high-speed rail would not have to suffer the indignity of removing their shoes to travel.

“While Texas canceled its project, California keeps building,” Newsom’s Press Office posted, neglecting to mention the fact that while Texas had canceled due to skyrocketing costs, California had simply opted to pass the added cost on to investors and depend on government grants. “463 miles are now ready for construction. We’re past the hardest part, and we’re finishing the job.”

“High-speed rail means no TSA lines, no removing your shoes — just fast, clean travel,” the post read.

The TSA pointed out that airline passengers had not been required to remove their shoes while passing through airport security since July of 2025 — and noted that while getting 463 miles of planned route ready for construction was certainly an accomplishment, the trains were not yet ready to leave the station.

“Congratulations Gov. Newsom! 463 miles ‘ready for construction,’ maybe someday it will join the 20,000+ miles of passenger rail we already secure,” the TSA’s post read. “Meanwhile, Americans, who don’t fly private jets, have kept their shoes on at TSA checkpoints since July. Enjoy your next flight!”

The California high-speed rail project, touted by then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and originally approved in 2008, has long been viewed as a boondoggle of astronomical proportions. The initial budget was estimated at $33 billion, and was supposed to be completed by 2020. Initial passenger service was scheduled to begin in 2022.

Instead, over the course of 18 years, the price tag has ballooned to more than $135 billion and the ground along the proposed route is only just now “ready” for construction to begin. Passenger service has been delayed until sometime between 2030 and 2033.

In July of 2017, President Donald Trump announced that his administration was terminating some $4 billion in federal funding for the 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.'”