Big software/systems projects being notoriously difficult to estimate and manage, cost overruns the norm, etc.

I assume he's referring to platform lock-in ala Microsoft Office, AWS, Oracle, or Apple's walled garden driving future decisions. So the first software decision is a down payment until your technical debt hole is so big you can't do anything but throw money down it.

As ams6110 wrote above, it's ironic to have an article criticizing the high costs of construction projects on a developer website -- given that large software project costs are the same or worse.

It's like having a post about how ecologically unfriendly the fast food industry is on Exxon's website.

The title itself is deficient -- this isn't an article about general construction costs, it's specifically about rail transit construction.

inability to predict the time and effort needed