While the Democrats and the Republicans slug it out on the merits and demerits of the project, time is running out since contracts for the project have already been signed. Delays will attract penalties which could make the project void ab initio.

14 lawmakers from the California GOP have sent a letter to the newly-installed Transportation Secretary, Elaine Chao, asking that the approval for the $650 million dollar grant be halted on the grounds of increased costs and lack of private funding.

The proposed bullet train would have run from San Francisco to San Jose.

The GO letter points out that the bullet train, one of California Governor Jerry Brown’s pet projects, was originally slated to run from Sacramento to San Diego and was slated to cost the exchequer $33 billion. However, the plan has since then been revised and the bullet train was to run from San Francisco to San Jose with a total cost of $64 billion.

The GOP letter has also cited Federal Railroad Administration’s concerns that warn against a potential $3.5 billion hike in the first phase of the project, which runs from Merced to Shafter.

“Providing additional funding at this time to the authority would be an irresponsible use of taxpayers dollars. In light of the new revelations from the confidential FRA report, we request no further monies be granted to the [California High-Speed Rail] Authority or the state of California for high speed rail until a full and complete audit of the project and its finances can be conducted and those finding be presented to the public,” reads the letter from the GOP.

The Democrats were quick to fire their own letter which argued that the GOP letter was riddled with “inaccuracies and innuendo”. Defunding the project would not only hamper mobility within the state of California but would also make the city “dirtier, slower and more crowded”.

While both sides toss letters to the secretary Chao, the issue here is that contracts for the project has already been signed and which require work to commence by March 1, 2017.  If the grant isn’t approved by then it will attract penalties which will make the project almost impossible to fund.

At best, the project will have to attract private investment to the tune of $2 billion to electrify the route.

Here’s hoping the GOP doesn’t pick a fight with HyperLoop.