April 9, 2026, 3:17 p.m. ET Elon Musk unloaded on California’s massive High-Speed Rail Authority, blasting it as a wasteful boondoggle while claiming criminal motives fueled the project. The Tesla and SpaceX boss fired off a sharp response late Tuesday night to a post on X highlighting the project’s staggering $126 billion price tag. “The real reason for the ‘high speed rail’ is money-laundering to bureaucrats, consultants & unions, not actually transport,” Musk wrote. “That is where the billions spent so far have gone. That is why they don’t want an actually cost-efficient high speed transport system.” Elon Musk has positioned his approach to high-speed rail as faster, cheaper and more efficient than existing government-backed infrastructure plans that have floundered in California. REUTERS In a previous post on X, Musk insisted his own tunneling venture, The Boring Company, could deliver a better alternative at a fraction of the cost for the Long Angeles-to-San Francisco train. The jabs were aimed at the long-delayed rail effort championed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom.