The U.S. Transportation Department said Tuesday it is cancelling $175 million in federal funding for four projects tied to California’s high-speed rail, the latest setback for the long-delayed effort to link Los Angeles and San Francisco in under three hours. The decision follows the department’s July move to withdraw $4 billion in previously committed grants. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said the money had been earmarked for grade separations, overcrossings, final track design in San Jose and construction of a high-speed rail station in Madera. Citing two decades of missed deadlines and rising costs, Duffy called the venture a “failed experiment” and directed the Federal Railroad Administration to review all remaining grants associated with the project. The California High-Speed Rail Authority condemned the action as “illegal, politically motivated and baseless” and has already sued the federal government over the earlier $4 billion cut. Governor Gavin Newsom continues to back the line, while President Donald Trump and other Republicans argue that the project has squandered taxpayer dollars. Approved by voters in 2008 with a $10 billion bond measure, the rail network was originally priced at $33 billion and slated for completion by 2020. State and federal estimates now put the cost at $89 billion to $128 billion, and the initial Merced-to-Bakersfield segment is not expected to open until 2033. The authority says it has finished roughly 70 miles of guideway and more than 50 major structures, but the latest federal funding withdrawal deepens questions about how the state will finance the remainder of the project.