Washington DC - President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that his administration was cutting billions in federal funding for the construction of a long-delayed high-speed rail line in California.

The Republican had previously signaled his opposition to the project, launched 15 years ago to build a high-speed train connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco.

"Not a SINGLE penny in Federal Dollars will go towards this Newscum SCAM ever again," he posted on social media.

"This was an ill-conceived and unnecessary project, and a total waste of Taxpayer money."

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Launched in 2008, the project to connect the two main cities of the country's most populous state has seen numerous delays and overshot budgets.

Trump had earlier canceled federal funding for the project in his first term, but the move was suspended after California challenged it in court.

When Joe Biden was elected president in 2020, he restored the funds.

After Trump returned to office, his administration threatened to cancel $4 billion in funding for the project after a report by the Federal Railroad Administration concluded that the initial section of the line would not be completed by a 2033 deadline.

"Governor Newsom and California's high speed rail boondoggle are the definition of government incompetence and possibly corruption," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote in a post.

Duffy alleged the project's price tag had gone up from $33 billion to $135 billion, "with no completion date in sight."

"That's why TODAY we're pulling the plug on federal funding for this train to nowhere," he announced.

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Governor Newsom hit back by attacking Duffy over the recent US air safety record.

"Won't be taking advice from the guy who can't keep planes in the sky," he said.

Even if California once again challenges Trump's decision in court – as Newsom indicated it would – the funding cancellation would be a serious blow to the project, with new delays almost inevitable.

The first fully high-speed rail line in the US, planned to run about 220 miles between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, is expected to be completed by 2028, in time for the Olympic Games.