California Drops High-Speed Rail Lawsuit

California's High-Speed Rail Authority has dropped its lawsuit against the Trump administration over the cancellation of approximately $4 billion in federal grants for the state's long-delayed high-speed rail project, officials announced this week.

The authority filed the suit in July in the Eastern District of California after the U.S. Transportation Department and Federal Railroad Administration terminated the funding in June. The grants, originally awarded under the Obama and Biden administrations, supported construction of a bullet train system intended to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles. The federal agencies cited a compliance review that found the authority had not met grant requirements, including costly contract changes, reduced ridership projections and missed deadlines. The decision to withhold the funds followed a prior reallocation of $2.4 billion from the project in September to a national passenger rail improvement program.

Attorney General Rob Bonta submitted the notice of dismissal on Tuesday, ending the legal challenge. In a statement, a spokesperson for the authority said the move reflects the state's view that the federal government is not a reliable...