Costs

I have already explained and quantified the benefits of high speed rail. Now it is time for the other side of the cost-benefit equation. There are two types of costs of rail transportation: construction (building it) and operating (running it). 

Operating costs are generally in the range of $0.20 to $0.30 per passenger mile. This includes expenses such as staff to operate the train, fuel, maintenance of vehicles, dispatching, and insurance. For diesel systems operating on shared freight tracks, this also includes paying the track owner for the use and maintenance of the right of way. Operating costs don’t vary widely among different systems, but for faster systems, which attract more riders, operating costs per passenger mile is lower due to economies of scale.

Construction costs are where it gets tricky. First, costs vary widely depending on terrain, availability and value of land, and the amount of other infrastructure (such as roads, buildings, utilities) which has to be crossed. Building through dense, urban area is much more expensive. Second, creating detailed estimates takes a lot of engineering work. It is difficult to get funding to design something which it is unknown if it will ever be built. Third, construction costs are large and have to be paid upfront, while the benefits accrue over many years.

This is where upgrading freight track has major advantages over building new, higher speed track. Upgrading existing tracks costs at most one-tenth as much as building all new track and can be done incrementally.

Below, I estimate the construction costs of the five regional corridors described previously. These estimates come from Midwest Regional Rail System Business Plan, Southeast High Speed Rail Project Environmental Impact Statement, and Amtrak’s 2008 National High Speed Rail report.

Corridor	Construction cost per mile	Estimate year	Construction cost per mile (2013 $)	Annualized Construction Cost	Track Length	Total construction cost
Southeast	5.87	2000	7.94	183.811	463	3,676
Great Lakes	2.743	2002	3.538	68.1065	385	1,362
Midwest	1.678	2002	2.164	96.5144	892	1,930
Texas	*		4.547*	57.97425	255	1,159
Florida	*		4.547*	75.70755	333	1,514
						$9.6 Billion
all costs in millions of dollars
* no estimate available, average of other corridors

Construction costs to upgrade existing track are generally in the $2M-$5M per mile range. The annualized construction costs is the upfront capital cost spread out over 20 years, to allow for comparison of (initial) costs  to benefits (which accrue over time).

The total estimated cost to construct all five regional corridors is approximately $10 billion.