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[quote user="HarveyK400"] I have no idea why it could possibly cost $313 billion for HSR between Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio unless Halliburton gets a no-bid contract from the Governor.  By comparison, California is estimating just $40 billion for a 700 mile long HSR, 220 mph network.  The Southeast Corridor may be a tad more between Washington and Jacksonville for the 220 mph corridor alternative.  There aren't that many other full HSR corridors close to implementation.  Illinois and Wisconsin are looking at improvements for 90-110 mph services that would take only half a billion each.  So maybe the the first phase may be around $100 billion - just a guess.  [/quote] The General Accounting Office (GAO) released recently a report of its audit of select proposed high speed rail projects in the U.S.  The GAO is considered by experts to be one of the best audit organizations in the country, primarily because of its ruthless objectivity.  Amongst the projects that it reviewed is the status of high speed rail in Texas.  It found that as of March 2009, Texas has taken no further action to establish a high speed rail system since the failed Texas TGV proposal.  However, a grassroots organization of local elected officials and others is pursuing high speed rail in the Texas Triangle.  It is important to note that the Texas Legislature has not sanction any high speed rail for the Lone Star State. The Texas TGV, which was first proposed in 1982, would have provided high speed rail between Dallas/Fort Worth, Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio.  Service was to have commenced between DFW and Houston in 1998, with service to Austin and San Antonio beginning in 1999.  The project failed because the proponents could not raise sufficient funds in the private capital markets, and the legislature refused to fund the project, although it authorized the formation of the Texas High Speed Rail Authority (THSRA).  The THSRA issued requests for proposals.  Two of three applicants met the criteria.  Texas TGV Corporation (Morrison Knudsen, Bombardier, Alstom, Credit Lyonnais, Banque IndoSuez, Merrill Lynch) was granted the franchise after evidential hearings were held on the franchise applications.  Southwest Airlines filed suit to block the project, but the Texas court of jurisdiction dismissed its lawsuit.  Contrary to popular belief, Southwest Airlines was not the major reason the project fell over.  The project never got beyond the environmental impact study phase.  The estimated cost of the project was $4 billion, with a projected ridership of 11.3 to 18 million by 2015.  Since 1982 the CPI has increased 120.5 per cent, which means the $4 billion would be equal to $8.82 billion today.  A better inflation indicator would be the construction cost deflator, which would be somewhat different than the CPI, but it is more difficult to get.  In any case, it appears that $313 billion to build HSR in Texas, if that is what the DOT person said, even after allowing for an extension of the line to Little Rock and Tulsa, is not well founded. The GAO also found that the estimated cost of the California High Speed Rail project as of July 2008 is $32.8 to $33.6 billion, which is considerably less than the $40 billion being thrown around by people who have not been able to review the primary source documents.  The GAO had access to these documents.
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