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Old 03-20-2009, 11:24 PM   #33 (permalink)
sequoias
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: A little trip to the extraordinary.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by diehardbiker View Post
In America, the land is so huge, meaning requires bigger infrastructure which could easily exceeding the cost of Billions of dollars.

Speaking of ROI = Return On Investment, if we go ahead in America, it probably will take more than hundreds of years to get that investment back, and the infrastructure don't last forever.

That is why it is almost impossible to set up good infrastructure on high speed railroads up here than at other countries. On other hand, would you be willing to throw huge sum of money away and not see it come back again? I am sure the answer would be NOBODY.

I personally *DO* support railroads, but when it comes to ROI, I see it completely differently.
Yep, I agree! For example, in California is planning for high speed rail system which would cost $10 billion for a start up plan. The extensions would cost additional few billion dollars with a build out cost of maybe $20-30 billion and that will take a LONG time to pay it off if they did that all at once, so it's best to start with a first leg until they get revenues from the passengers, you know?

Something not related to high speed rail....Seattle light rail would be paid off by around 2030-2040 on the first segment that is completed basically and will be opening in July 3, 2009. It cost us about $2.4 billion for 15.9 miles due to the geography we have.
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