The fact that this costs 12billion sums up a lot of what’s wrong in the US.
Let’s be honest the project will take longer than expected and end up costing more than 12billion.
Let’s be honest the project will take longer than expected and end up costing more than 12billion.
France is planning a new 410 km high speed rail line between Paris and Lyon for €12 billion [1]. That's $11.2 billion at current exchange rates, giving $25 million per km. That seems to be a pretty normal price for high speed rail in Europe [2] for routes that don't need tunneling.
So this US project is about 36% more expensive than a typical EU high speed rail project. Higher, but is it really enough higher to qualify for "what's wrong in the US"?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_France#Unde...
[2] https://op.europa.eu/webpub/eca/special-reports/high-speed-r...
Another real possibility is the project starts and gets engineering plans developed certified and on the shelf and 2 billion is spent getting things going… only to run into a snag and never get completed.
(Google the high speed rail line from Iowa City to Chicago .. that was also fully funded .. and still 10 years later not a single mile of rail has been laid)