$50 million PER MILE.
Lord Obama gave Michigan a whopping $40 million.
You can go as fast as you want, and as far as you want.....as long as its within 9/10 of a mile.
Not a chance... It'll be triple that. We just installed a 14 mile rail line here in Seattle at $179 million per mile. Estimating $50 million per mile is LOW...
The fact is we simply cannot afford this. At all. The estimate is $2 TRILLION to deploy across the US. Assuming today's bond rates (4.625%), we have a monthly interest expense of $7.5 BILLION. Yes, $7.5 BILLION a month for just the interest (not including the principal).
Assuming one out of 10 workers in the US use the train every day, that works out to $500 per MONTH in subsidies. Just in the interest costs alone.
$500 per rider, per month. Just in interest costs. Not including operational costs. Principal costs. Maintenance.
$23 per day per rider, just to pay the interest. Not the actual costs. Just interest.
So how does everyone else feel about tossing in $3 a day to pay the interest for each of those riders? How about tossing in another buck or two a day to cover their operational costs? Spend $5-$7 per day for your neighbor to ride his trains?
These are the questions that Willie loves to avoid...