[Spocket]

I'm all for it right up until we get to the price tag. If the government is in charge of building any high speed rail link between any cities, it's bound to go way over budget. Even if it does come in at $25 billion...that's still $25 BILLION dollars. What in the world would make this so expensive ? Yes, nothing about it is cheap , I understand that but how much could special trains, track, property, and stations possibly cost ?

$25 billion bucks is a lot of money. I would go so far as to call it an excessive amount of cash for what we'd get. It's still slower than a plane so what exactly does $25 billion buy that we need even for convenience sake ?

Yeah, I can hear it all already "You're being negative" , "Why does it always come down to money for some people", and all the usual stuff from the folks who don't care about the cash if something is shiny enough. None of that will actually answer the questions I'm posing though so please, tell me what makes this a good way to spend that much cash. Make-work project ? Is it so "green" that it actually removes pollution from the air ? (Actually , I already know how some people are going to answer that so let me head you off at the pass. If the same people riding this high-speed link took the "regular" train right now for environmental reasons , we wouldn't "need" a high speed line anyway. They don't take the train today because it's faster and cheaper to take a plane or drive themselves. Being "green" takes a back seat to economics and convenience just like it always does)

Sorry guys but somebody has to ask these questions or we just end up with an echo chamber full of nodding heads.