Defining Cost of High Speed Rail

Kings Cross Station LondonKings Cross Station London, originally uploaded by fotoisto2005

From High Speed Rail Projects in the United States: Identifying the Elements For Success:

When cost-benefit analyses are developed for high-speed rail, the focus tends to be on the bottom line–how much money will be put in and how much will be generated. As long as one looks at cost as bottom-line driven, we are unlikely to see high-speed rail in the United States, given the capital investment needed to build such systems. Different results are often obtained when there is a broader tabulation, such as that being developed in California, that includes other costs of the transportation system (for example, additional cost of highway maintenance and repair) as well as the public as a whole (for example, increased levels of pollution as highway use increases) under the no-build option.
Related to this is the need to be clear on not just the goals of the particular HSR project, but also on who is really reaping the benefits. If there are truly public benefits, then arguing for only private funding makes no sense and such projects are unlikely to succeed. If the public benefits are questionable, then private funding is a better choice.