[BrownTown]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

The authority has only spent a fraction of that sum so far, well under $10 billion, and they do not have to repay the federal grants, which to date comprise about $5 billion. The initial operating segment is going to cost about $6 billion. Obviously, the connection to Gilroy/San Jose is going to be much more expensive than that because of the big tunnel and because they will have to buy dedicated HSR trains, but the fact is that to date relatively little money has been spent relative to the doomsday figures trumpted by the haters.

1. Whether they have to pay it back or not doesn't change the fact that it's a massive waste of money.

2. The fact they have spent so little money is an example of how terrible this project is, not how great it is. They're progressing at a snails pace which is the only reason so "little" money has been spent.

3. The "doomsday" scenarios you speak of are the projects own projections. Any any fools knows if they say 85 Billion then it's 100 Billion at a minimum. All big infrastructure projects blow their budgets out like this, only a fool would think CAHSR would be an exception (especially after all the cost increases so far).

4. The only reason the price hasn't been completely blown out is because they keep scaling back the scope of the project. They've already drastically reduced the speed of the overall system and the length of the trains it can handle. It's comparing apples to oranges to look at the original estimate and the current proposed system.

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

Another factor ignored by the haters is the complication involved in acquiring the trains because of Made in USA stipulations from the federal grants. Getting Florida and Texas to build their systems to the same specs would help justify establishment of a HSR train and parts industry in the United States. Instead, California and Texas are almost certain to buy their trains from overseas but then have compatibility problems with the USA parts.

The costs of the trainsets themselves is more or less insignificant compared to the cost of the infrastructure. This is not any signification portion of the issue even if we can all agree FRA standards are stupid.

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

So are you anti-airport because poor people rarely fly?

Huh?

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

I took Amtrak two years ago from Ohio to Baltimore for like $200 round-trip. Yes, I bought the ticket in advance. You can get an advance Greyhound ticket from here to California for a similar sum.

That's nice and all, but that isn't a high speed route. Acela is much more expensive per mile and CAHSR will be vastly more expensive than Acela.