Elon Musk Calls Gavin Newsom's California High-Speed Rail Project a 'Big Scam' as Ron DeSantis Says Cost

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk have criticized California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s high-speed rail project after a new Wall Street Journal report said the long-delayed system could ultimately cost as much as $231 billion.

Quarter of a Trillion Dollars

DeSantis took to the social media platform X on Wednesday, sharing a screenshot of a Wednesday report by the Wall Street Journal that estimated the project could cost up to $231 billion, with its full-scale operations expected to begin in 2040. “That this could reach nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars is mind blowing…” DeSantis said in his post.

Musk, responding to DeSantis, also criticized the project. “It’s just a big scam,” he said. Musk had earlier slammed the project, saying that his tunneling startup The Boring Co. could “build a Hyperloop tunnel from downtown SF to downtown LA for <5%” of the project’s cost.

California High Speed Project