How much would it cost to build a high-speed rail system?

The 2022 business plan estimates that the full, 500-mile high-speed system between Los Angeles and San Francisco will cost as much as $105 billion, up from $100 billion two years ago. In 2008, when voters approved a bond to help build the railroad, the authority estimated that the system would cost $33 billion.



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Inflation and higher construction costs have contributed to the high price tag. The project has spent $9.8 billion so far, according to Brian Kelly, CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority. We knew we've had a funding gap ever since the project started, Kelly said.

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High-Speed Rail Is Too Expensive Building the 48,000-mile Interstate Highway System cost about $500 billion (in today's dollars). Paid for entirely out of user fees, it carries about 25 percent of all passenger travel and 15 percent of all freight in the United States.

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CLIMATEWIRE | The first U.S.-made high-speed bullet trains will start running as early as 2024 between Boston, New York and Washington, with the promise of cutting transportation emissions by attracting new rail passengers who now drive or fly.

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Hyperloop One estimated that for a loop around the Bay Area the costs were in a range on $9 billion to $13 billion in total, or from $84 million to $121 million per mile.

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Therefore, high speed rail, while more costly than highway transportation in terms of internal costs, primarily due to its high capital cost, is significantly less costly than highway in terms of social costs.

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A lot cheaper. That high-speed train ticket would cost about $75, compared to more than $200 to fly or drive. Ready to ride?

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It Takes Decades to Plan and Build However, because of cost overruns and the pandemic, the authority now projects completion no earlier than 2033, nearly 40 years after planning began. Not all high-?speed rail lines may take this long, but two decades seems a likely minimum.

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Implementing high-speed rail will keep billions of dollars in the U.S. economy by decreasing the amount of oil that the U.S. consumes. According to the International Association of Railways (UIC), high-speed rail is eight times more energy efficient than airplanes and four times more efficient than automobile use.

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China initially relied on high-speed technology imported from Europe and Japan to establish its network. Global rail engineering giants such as Bombardier, Alstom and Mitsubishi were understandably keen to co-operate, given the potential size of the new market and China's ambitious plans.

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With the right commercial strategy, high-speed rail (HSR) routes can be profitable, with some lines achieving modal shares of up to 65%.

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The cost per mile of the planned 520-mile California high-speed rail system, assuming it could actually be built for the current estimate of $80 billion, is $154 million per mile. And Amtrak's own estimates for replacing its existing Northeast Corridor with true high-speed rail work out to over $500 million per mile.

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It costs 120 million to 130 million yuan to extend the high-speed rail 1 km, he estimates. This suggests that extending the network by 8,000 km by 2025 would take an investment on the scale of 1 trillion yuan.

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Most Amtrak trains travel between 110 mph to 145 mph in the corridor, depending on the track and proximity to stations.

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High Speed Rail is the world's safest form of transportation proven by decades of operations all around the world. Japan was the first nation to build high speed rail in 1964, and has since transported 10 billion passengers without a single injury or fatality!

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While most Shinkansen currently operate at a maximum of 300 kph (186 mph), the E5 “Bullet Trains” of Japan Railways East (JR East) run at up to 320 kph (200 mph) on the Tohoku Shinkansen, which runs north from Tokyo to Shin-Aomori.

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