Willie,
So to cover the deployment costs - assuming we have 50% MORE RIDERS than all of Europe (a smaller, more interconnected, and much more populous continent), we still lose money.
Add $26.67 to each of the fares currently paid. That $709 train from LA to NO becomes a $736 ticket. Triple what I can do on the plane.
You never want to talk costs or expenditures because you cannot make your case. It falls apart. Trains are too expensive and too slow for long distance runs. Shorter distance and they lose to cars and buses.
They just don’t work.
Argue the numbers, Willie. Put together a financing package that will work. And tell me how many riders you figure will use the train. Put the numbers out there; I bet you won’t because you either cannot prove your case or you use numbers that are so unbelievable you blow your case.
What’s the cost Willie? How many will ride?
Add $26.67 to each of the fares currently paid. That $709 train from LA to NO becomes a $736 ticket. Triple what I can do on the plane.
But with the state-of-the-art high-speed technology that you've deployed,
now you've cut the travel time so you don't need to buy a superliner roomette to sleep in.
Amtrak LA to NO presently 1900 miles / 46 hours = 41 mph (sheesh that's slow!)
LA to NO 1900 miles / 200 mph = 9.5 hours using your London to Edinburg technology.
See? What did I tell ya?
That's a heckuva nice train you got!!!
A real bargain for only $150 million/mile!!!
Now you don't have to buy the "roomette"!!!