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[quote user="henry6"] New services are always market researched and continuing services are always reviewed.  That's why and how changes in schedules, equipment, and connections are usually determined.  There is nothing that happens in America today that isn't put under microscopic inspection, researched, reviewed, anaylyzed, debated and debated again, before it happens.  And when politicians money is involved it is doubled lest some Congressman from the other side of the world gets more than another.  My sarcarstic way of saying that yes, things like this are researched and studied before billions of dollars are put up an in.  American business money will be put up only when there is a 99.9999999% chance it will either be a total success or big time tax write off. [/quote] I spent more than 40 years working for corporate America.  Not once did we look for a 99 per cent probability of success.  If we had nothing would have been done.  Instead, we looked for reasonable probabilities, using Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return math models, amongst others, to guide our decision making.  To be sure, we factored in the tax consequences of our investment decisions, but no business remains viable by writing off its loses. Rail projects don't cost out.  That is why no business has attempted to enter the rail passenger business.  Even if the government owned the rails, which in the case of Amtrak it does in certain corridors, there is scant evidence that rail passenger services could cover its operating costs and provide a return to the investors.  Only government, with it relatively unlimited ability to tap out the taxpayers, is in the intercity rail passenger business. Speaking of revenue projects, the California High Speed Rail proponents claimed that they would be able to offer a $55 fare from Los Angeles to San Francisco.  Last week, I saw where they have revised their estimate.  It is now $115.
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