California High-Speed Rail Cost May Triple

TheLos Angeles Times reports on the latest setbacks to California ’s high-speed passenger rail project. The project is far over budget and way behind schedule. Is anyone surprised?Randal O ’Toole describes the plague of cost overruns ingovernment rail systems here, and he explains why high-speed passenger railmakes little sense here. I discuss the epidemic of cost overruns on governmentinfrastructure projects here.TheLAT says:The price of the California bullet train project jumped sharply Friday when the state rail authority announced that the cost of connecting Los Angeles to San Francisco would be $77.3 billion and could rise as high as $98.1 billion — an uptick of at least $13 billion from estimates two years ago.The rail authority also said the earliest trains could operate on a partial system between San Francisco and Bakersfield would be 2029 — four years later than the previous projection. The full system would not begin operating until 2033.… The new estimates will force California’s leadership to double down on its political and financial commitments if it wants to see the system completed, against a backdrop of rising costs, years of delays, strident litigation and backlashes in communities where homes, businesses, farms and envi ronmental preserves will have to give up land to the rail’s right-of-way.… The new business plan is based on a wide range of uncertainties, Kelly said. Among the most challenging is the cost of about 36 miles of tunnels thro...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs