Posted on 10/31/2011 8:00:55 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- The new business plan for California's high-speed rail system shows the nation's most ambitious state rail project could cost nearly $100 billion in inflation-adjusted funding over a 20-year construction period but also would be profitable even at the lowest ridership estimates and would not require public operating subsidies, according to a draft copy of the plan shared late Monday with The Associated Press.
The report estimates the actual cost at $98.5 billion if the route between San Francisco and Anaheim is completed in 2033.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
No mention of the eminent domain abuse taking homes, farms and businesses for this totally unnecessary boondoggle.
Does that cost include buying all the land that Reid and Pelosi own all along the way?
“SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The new business plan for California’s high-speed rail system shows the nation’s most ambitious state rail project could cost nearly $100 billion in inflation-adjusted funding over a 20-year construction period but also would be profitable even at the lowest ridership estimates and would not require public operating subsidies, according to a draft copy of the plan shared late Monday with The Associated Press.”
Bulls**t, bulls**t, and bulls**t.
No matter what the estimate, tripling it is entirely safe.
In the entire world, there are perhaps 20 passenger train lines that are self-supporting revenue wise.
This has been true for 50 years.
The only way this will ever make sense is is gas goes to $50. And that may not be out or range for their plans for us.
I bet they will spend 18B on this and then the entire project will be scrapped.
Why don’t we just buy off the unions for $30 billion, cancel the project and save $70 billion?
Yeah....and includes a detour over a bridge from Brooklyn that was acquired at low cost.
Yes, I guess if Boeing gave away its airplanes the airlines could be as “profitable” as this rail boondoggle.
I love how the AP thinks: Profitable... counting only operating costs. The $100 billion... that doesn’t count.
Absolutely... but they discount the cost of building it...
Aside from that $100 billion...
What's that? Haven't heard about it. You mean he wants to fast-track more illegal aliens by building highspeed rail into Mexico? That, I can see.
Now, lets put these calculations into the whizzinator.
Wizzzzzz-
$100 billion. If the ticket cost included, say, $10 dollars as amortization of the original investment, say for one hundred years, then to break even on the investment would need 275,000 tickets per day,each day, not including interest, over the one hundred years.
Now, if a train car carried 100 passengers in each car, and each train was ten cars long, you would need 275 trains per day, or from 6am to midnight 15 trains per hour; one every four minutes!
Yep, I’m sure that that this will be a real winner!
It will probably cost quadruple that after they finish writing in all the graft.
Its never going to get built. The private sector is not interested in California’s high speed rail turkey.
The report as usual is a lie. Public subsidies will be needed to make it profitable.
Again, its not going to be operational anytime soon in this century.
No. And what is “lowest ridership” estimates? Heck, flying by plane or driving by car will still be cheaper in 2033. I don’t have to do the math to know I’m right. There’s a reason Florida pulled the plug on its Tampa to Orlando HSR. Its going to need lots of taxpayer money. If this was truly profitable and the market already existed for it, the private sector would be putting up the money to make it happen. And they’re not going to build it without a guaranteed return on their investment.
Freeways pay back for themselves almost immediately. For half that money, California can build new freeways and upgrade existing ones. The infrastructure for future expansion already exists. California used to be the road-building state of the country.
Let’s flush billions down the drain of HSR!
The rail bond passed by voters said bonds cannot be issued unless there is no loss to the taxpayers.
No one can guarantee what will happen in 20 years. And with cost-overruns, HSR to Nowhere will be even more expensive than shown by the most prudent current fiscal projections.
And they are only current projections!
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