High Speed rail yes...

[A Horse With No Name]

To do high speed rail...we would need to fund the system adequately.

A recent estimate for a line between Milwaukee and Madison was $810 million....and that rate per mile...it would cost about eight or ten billion dollars just to put a basic system into Ohio. Not that I would mind spending the money...I'd spend it here rather than on another carrier group we are never going to use.

But we can''t just cough up 7 and a half billion dollars out of an already short Ohio treasury to do so.

Want to see what happens with the high speed trains on the coasts as this will get interesting.

[Drew Dowdell]

I think we need to clarify our definition of Highspeed Rail.

79mph is not high speed rail... as such, I'm not sure how the Madison Milwaukee line qualified for funding.

79mph is actually fairly standard speed for most of Amtrak.

[A Horse With No Name]

Here is the challenge..tell me how much it would cost to build an actual high speed rail system in Ohio if I handed you four hundred million dollars today...seriously....

[Drew Dowdell]

Here is the challenge..tell me how much it would cost to build an actual high speed rail system in Ohio if I handed you four hundred million dollars today...seriously....

Far too many variables to give a serious answer.

Am I expanding an existing right of way?

Am I just rebuilding existing lines with welded rail and concrete ties?

Am I going for full electrification or will we be using the current diesel design?

Basic double track freight line is $1m per mile when starting from barren land.

Concrete ties add another $500k per mile

Electrification adds $5m per mile, but allows much higher top speeds

Bridges, tunnels, etc, add to cost substantially.... and since you can't have grade crossings with high speed rail, roads sometimes have to be moved or underpasses created.

When all is said and done, you're looking at $9m-$12m per mile electrified depending on terrain. As a point of reference, standard 4-lane highway is about the same per mile until you throw in interchanges. One interchange alone can be $30 million.

For $400m in Ohio, lets pretend we'll be using an abandoned right of way for a slight discount (there are lots) and we'll use diesel instead of electric and aim for an average cruise speed of 110mph. Cost per mile would probably be in the $4m - $8m range including bridges and such. Which means you'd get 50 to 100 miles for your $400 million.

However, $400 million was just what the feds were kicking in. Ohio was going to have to kick in money too.

[A Horse With No Name]

Which is a huge part of the problem....Ohio is about and bankrupt as California right now...and sixty miles will go halfway to Cincinnati from Columbus...or not even....

[CanadianBacon94]

someone's a fan

[Drew Dowdell]

:-P I still play it all the time

[CanadianBacon94]

:-P I still play it all the time

Cool... i was just messing around i have it too, but my harddrive... "blew a piston"(died) so not more save data...

Tycoon games own!

Edited November 12, 2010 by CanadianBacon94

[Drew Dowdell]

I've actually had to purchase it 3 times because I keep destroying the CD somehow. Steam to the rescue, never have to purchase it again!