The Cost of High Speed Rail

Friday December 9, 2005

Lots of news about high speed rail links in Europe this week. Portugal estimates that the high speed rail line "connecting Lisbon with Madrid and with Porto, due to be operational by 2013, is estimated to cost around 7.2" billion Euros, according to Forbes. Compare the costs to the new international airport near Lisbon, estimated at 3 billion Euros, and you can see why people are questioning the need.

Meanwhile in the Italian alps, the Susa valley high speed rail protests have gotten even more organized and vociferous, and now threaten some venues of the 2006 Winter Olympics. Hundreds of people blocked roads into Turin yesterday.

According to Beppe Grillo's Blog, drilling the tunnel through the Alps will release a whole lot of asbestos, among other environmental contaminants. Beppe is one of Italy's top comics, and his blog provides lively insight into Italian politics and culture.

And, speaking of the Olympics, guess which tickets are selling like hotcakes? Curling! No doubt the effect of the Nude Curling Calendar promotion we reported on earlier. Need Olympics tickets? CoSport is the Official North American sales agent. Europeans get them through Torino2006.