[lbo-talk] billions for high-speed rail!

Jordan Hayes jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com
Tue Feb 17 09:21:05 PST 2009



>> There’s a massive $8 billion chunk of the stimulus
>> dedicated to creating a European-style network of high- speed
>> passenger trains.

Whee! The SF-LA link is expected to cost $40B+ ... IF you started today and IF it doesn't have massive cost overruns like it's projected to. If this is shared between several projects, it looks like a drop in the bucket. If he was serious about wanting a "European-style" (ok, let's change that to "have a few good lines that are running!) train network, he'd add a zero or two to that number. The FAA budget is $15B and they don't even own any airports or anything.

I haven't seen the text of the final bill; did the $800M to Amtrak "use it in 7 days on anything but operations or lose it" text remain to the end?

/jordan



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list