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Who will pay for California's high-speed rail system?


http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stori...=1&forced=true

- The California High-Speed Rail Authority, created to carry out the project, told voters in 2008 that the rail line would cost $33.6 billion. The price has since jumped 27 percent, to $42.6 billion.

- The Rail Authority's estimate has risen mostly because when the measure went on the ballot, it didn't account for inflation, which is expected to total 19 percent over five years of construction.

- A Bay Area News Group analysis of high-speed systems around the globe suggests that the project could cost less than the current estimate, as little as $38 billion. But it is most likely to cost more -- up to $73 billion, even if built on time.

- "The state of California does not do anything cheaper than the rest of the world," said Adrian Moore, vice president of the libertarian Reason Foundation. "There is no way it will be close to $45 billion." Costs along some parts of the rail line zoomed up earlier this year, including one five-mile stretch on the Peninsula where estimates soared $135 million. The reason? Engineers had estimated the cost of building two tracks there when they actually needed four.