HAZ-Matt

It doesn't mean that at all.

In Houston they did a half assed rail system as well. That doesn't mean that it isn't feasible to do it correctly. Especially considering the efficiency will offset the cost in the long run, especially for cross country freight.

Passenger rail would be cheaper than flights with decent infrastructure. You just need more DARPA money going towards things like the Advanced Locomotive Propulsion Unit and less going to anti-shepherd missile drones.

jg95z28

Actually $1 billion for 11 miles of track is not uncommon in the industry for a rail-transit extensions in high density areas. It can be real expensive. Our 16 mile extension to Berryessa is about that cost and there are only two stations being built. One electrified-rail car costs several million. We're in the process of replacing our fleet of over 650 cars, at a cost of over $3 billion.

Rail-transit isn't cheap I'm afraid.

Slappy3243

If 11 miles of the latest technology rail is costing 1 Billion dollars, then how much is thousands of miles of rail going to cost? How long will it take for it to pay for itself? I am not against rail, I just think we spend way too much on our highway infrastructure so we now have to rely on it. People think big cars and long roads when they think of America.

Slappy3243

That is pretty much the point I am making. Our infrastructure of highways requires so much money to maintain. Forget about adding cost of railways to that plus the cost of maintaining all of the roads.