The hunt for dollars to build the $64B bullet train
I&#x27;m pretty sure the people calling it a boondoggle are correct. Obama included $3B in the 2009 stimulus package for it back in 2009. Not a single yard of track has been laid.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;01&#x2F;07&#x2F;us&#x2F;high-speed-train-in-california-is-caught-in-a-political-storm.html?action=click&amp;contentCollection=U.S.&amp;module=RelatedCoverage&amp;region=Marginalia&amp;pgtype=article" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;01&#x2F;07&#x2F;us&#x2F;high-speed-train-in-ca...</a><p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;thehill.com&#x2F;policy&#x2F;transportation&#x2F;263782-obama-high-speed-rail-stuck-in-station" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;thehill.com&#x2F;policy&#x2F;transportation&#x2F;263782-obama-high-s...</a><p>The project is hoped to finish in 2029, which is 12 years from now.<p>For comparison, China build the Qinhuangdao–Shenyang line in 4 years (approx half the SF-&gt;LA distance). The cost was $1.9B, which is less than what California has already spent.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Qinhuangdao–Shenyang_High-Speed_Railway" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Qinhuangdao–Shenyang_H...</a><p>Here in India, we&#x27;ve built an entire city Metro system for about $6B. That&#x27;s twice what it cost California to explore the idea of maybe someday laying track, or what it costs NYC to build 1-2 miles of track.<p>If we are serious about transit, we will figure out how to get the costs under control. Anyone who talks about finding $64B and 12 years for what should be a $2-4B railway in 4 years is fundamentally unserious.<p>If we want transit in the US we need to fix the insane cost problem. Anything else is sheer folly.<p>(Incidentally, anyone mentioning purchasing power or worker costs doesn&#x27;t know what they are talking about. Paris, Hong Kong, Spain and Singapore are all wealthy nations with costs far closer to India and China than to the US.)