Latest / The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
Why Public Rail Projects Always End Up Late and Over Budget
In this episode of The Fiscal Policy Podcast, Lucas and Luna take a hard look at why public rail projects, from the California high-speed rail to German and French infrastructure, keep blowing their timelines and budgets. They unpack the numbers: California's high-speed rail was originally estimated at $33 billion with a 2020 completion date, but as of mid-2026, costs have ballooned to over $128 billion with no opening in sight. They dig into the structural reasons behind this pattern—the way cost estimates are produced before design is complete, the political incentives to understate…
The skinny
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