The California High-Speed Rail Authority did a massive reset this week, announcing a business plan that more than doubles the cost of the planned 220-mph, San Francisco-to-Los Angeles train service – from $43 billion to $98.5 billion – but that lays the groundwork for a “fiscally sound project that will attract and drive private investment, generate strong revenues and operate without any public subsidies,” it said.
The new cost figure was startling, but the agency said that it represented a more realistic assessment,
....One group that might be saying “I told you so” about now is the Reason Foundation. In 2008, as Californians were contemplating a ballot measure to fund high-speed rail, and the Rail Authority was estimating the total cost of the system in the mid-$40 billion range, Reason put out a report that argued “the final price tag for the complete high-speed rail system will actually be $65 to $81 billion.”
Clearly they were both wrong ;-)
