Or......maybe the "right" people were hired in order to maintain local control. There were several warnings early on, even through this site. I'm not an engineer, but the comments I read critical of the project seemed just too logical to ignore. It also appeared that there was a rush to reach the "point of no return", where an argument could be made that the project must continue, despite the high cost. You've provided some excellent information. I would like to see a response to your data from the politicians who continue to support the project. To ask Hotel owners and average non-union workers who have not benefited from the project to now pay for rail for years to come through various taxes is unconscionable as a vast majority of tourists and citizens will never use rail.  We're talking about multiple billions of dollars of liabilities.  This is not business as usual. Thank you for the response.