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To: Willie Green
The UK is building a new high speed rail line between London (Heathrow, outside the city limits) and Edinburgh. It's 300 miles or so. And it's $50 BILLION to do this line. That's $166 MILLION per mile for high speed rail, in a country that already has extensive rail.

Considering the plan is for 17,000 miles of high speed rail lines here in the US, well - do the math. That's close to $3 trillion, if we can keep the costs contained. I've been giving you the benefit of the doubt by estimating only $2 trillion.

Those are real world costs, Willie, costs based on actual go-forward plans by a nation with significant rail infrastructure, and a much less difficult geography as well. One that's not nearly as big and crazy as ours, where you have rails soaking in 125 degree heat and sun (desert SW) and rails in sub-zero freezes for months on end (upper Midwest/NE).

But never mind that, how much do you claim it will cost, Willie? Is it just unicorns and rainbows? What's the real cost estimate? Because you're awfully quiet when it comes to costs. Just claim everyone else is wrong and say nothing beyond.

So Willie, what is your number - how much will high speed rail cost? Because I'm using real-world costs, borne by projects in countries used to doing rail projects. What's your number, Willie, where did it come from? Did it come from Obama-on-high, delivered by a unicorn prancing down a rainbow? Is it just pennies a day?

What's the number Willie?

176 posted on 06/11/2010 5:03:43 PM PDT by PugetSoundSoldier (Indignation over the Sting of Truth is the defense of the indefensible)
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To: PugetSoundSoldier
The UK is building a new high speed rail line between London (Heathrow, outside the city limits) and Edinburgh. It's 300 miles or so. And it's $50 BILLION to do this line. That's $166 MILLION per mile for high speed rail, in a country that already has extensive rail.

You must suffer some kind of reading comprehension disability.
The article you cite says that the project requires 1500 miles of track.
That's only $33 million per mile.

Furthermore, nobody's proposing 17000 miles of "state of the art" high-speed technology. The designated high-speed corridors total much less total mileage than that. Many of the projects simply propose upgrading existing Amtrak routes and eliminating bottlenecks for far less than the $33 million/mile new construction costs.

Your greatly exagerated cost estimates have no credibility.

178 posted on 06/11/2010 5:40:50 PM PDT by Willie Green ("Some people march to the beat of a different drum - and some people polka. ..")
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