Is this because building passenger rail needs to be this expensive? Or is it because corruption and regulation is so out-of-control in CA that it’s inevitable that the cost of any project spins out of control?
As far as corruption and regulation, it’s not only CA, but the FRA on top of that. The feds have worked to make all forms of rail transportation, but especially passenger, too expensive for the private sector to run for many decades; they want a return to Woodrow Wilson’s USRA eventually (which is why there are now only five Class 1 freight railroads and absolutely no private passenger operations).