Why Can THEY Build High-Speed Rail, Part 1

It's normal for critics of the California High-Speed Rail project to gripe that other countries can build bullet trains, so why can't we? Frequently the critics are upper-middle class people who've traveled to Europe, Japan, or China and have Train Envy. 'California is stupid and corrupt!' is the easy, facile answer, and I'm not saying that's wrong, but it's instructive to askwhythose countries can do it and we can't. This topic could easily fill a whole book or a series of books, which I'm sure would bore you senseless. This will be brief and conversational, rather than formal and academic. Each country is summarized in the same way, so that when I do California, you'll clearly see what's a flaw and what isn't. You can skip to the end to see the capsule summary of how they did it. On the 15th of November, 2018, Morocco inaugurated the first link of its high-speed rail line, between Casablanca and Tangier. The Environmental Impact Study was completed in 2009, which, if you're counting, means that it took nine years after that to reach full operation. The feasibility studies determined that the line needed 1,150 hectares, which is 2,842 acres, of which 800 hectares were agricultural. It's 201 miles, and the trains reach speeds up to 199 mph, although not on the whole length of the line. Let's consider some key aspects of the construction: The line was built by French companies: engineering giant Alstom, and SNCF. They had done this before. Planning for the line was done at the national level, by the Moroccan government, the railroad company, and the French contractors. Local governments were consulted for implementation (identifying owners, posting notices), but not as co-decision makers. In Morocco, the King and the rest of the government can declare a rail line to be a national priority, and that decision can't be re-litigated over and over. In 2009 an environmental impact study was prepared and reviewed by the national environmental impact committee (CNEIE). There were no lawsuits about this, although there were many about the prices paid to expropriated owners (see below). Law 12-03 does allow interested parties to sue over environmental acceptability. This becomes a big one in California: every acre of land that the HSR needs is owned bysomeone, whether or not they live on it, and those people have to be moved out of the way. The process is explained in detail in this Frenchdocument(the browser can probably translate it to English if you don't read French). You might imagine that some imperious bureaucrat just says, 'Hey, the train needs that land you're on. Here's a check and out you go.' In fact, it's much more fair and procedural than that. Here's the process in brief, including the rights that property holders have. A Declaration of public utility is published. This can be challenged in administrative court, i.e. an owner can claim the line need not or should not be built there. A parcel inquiry is done for two months. Owners and holders of real rights can file observations. There is an attempt at an amicable sale at an administratively estimated price. If that fails, a judge can deposit funds in an account and seize the property. That French document says: Following field visits and evaluations carried out by several public administrations, including the Tax Department, financial compensation was established for the benefit of nearly 380 families and the 10 traders concerned. The amounts set are 5,000 dirhams/m² for bare land, whether it belongs to an individual or the municipality, and 2,000 dirhams/m² for constructions. Tenants occupying the premises for more than 5 years will also benefit from 2,000 dirhams/m². Thus, accommodation of 60 m² could give rise to compensation of more than 660,000 dirhams for an owner, and around half for a tenant. In this area of Mers Sultan, the overall cost per square meter can reach up to 17,000 dirhams, covered by the National Railway Office (ONCF). Following field visits and evaluations carried out by several public administrations, including the Tax Department, financial compensation was established for the benefit of nearly 380 families and the 10 traders concerned. The amounts set are 5,000 dirhams/m² for bare land, whether it belongs to an individual or the municipality, and 2,000 dirhams/m² for constructions. Tenants occupying the premises for more than 5 years will also benefit from 2,000 dirhams/m². Thus, accommodation of 60 m² could give rise to compensation of more than 660,000 dirhams for an owner, and around half for a tenant. In this area of Mers Sultan, the overall cost per square meter can reach up to 17,000 dirhams, covered by the National Railway Office (ONCF). At the same time, the municipality of Casablanca will receive compensation of 8.4 million dirhams for its 28 housing units classified as decorative goods. A dirham is about $0.10. So they paid property owners and tenants between $200 and $1,700 per square meter, and if you owned a house of 645 square feet, you could get $66,000, and a tenant could get $33,000. The municipality of Casablanca received about $840,000 for its 28 housing units. Expropriation was started May 2009 By late 2013, ~80% amicable of settlements were amicable, ~20% were in court We can see, then, that expropriation made at least some attempt at fairness, took a fair amount of time, and affected citizens did use the courts. The common estimate for the cost of Morocco's train is $15 million per mile. Morocco mostly rebuilt existing stations rather than constructing new ones. The first TGV line (Train à Grande Vitesse) was planned in the late 1960's and opened in the late 1970's. I love my literal English translation:The Train of Great Speed. I think I'll use that. The line was designed and built by SNCF, a unit of the French government. Perhaps in line with the French love for philosophy, theystudied itforever. But let's note: studying and thinking is cheap, unless a consulting firm is doing it. The civil servants got the right answer, too, which demonstrates that the old contractor adage: Measure twice, cut once. has a lot going for it. Paying engineers to study and do experiments costs a lot less than paying contractors to lay track and build stations. A demonstration of a gas turbine train going 236 km/h (146 mph) was held on June 20, 1967. The gas turbine engine was later converted to electric after the oil shocks of 1973. Eventually the goal became 300 km/h (186 mph), and new tracks which would allow the train to go over grades of up to 3% were laid. In the early 1970's, there were serious concerns within the government about how much the TGV would cost. However, the Paris - Lyon corridor was shown to be growing faster than the overall economy, and on March 23, 1976, the 'declaration of public utility' was officially adopted. France did not require an 'environmental impact statement' at the time. Theétude d'impactonly became mandatory with the nature-protection law of 10 July 1976. However, the 'declaration of public utility' earlier that year did cover much of the subjects in an EIS: land taking, farms, noise and visual nuisance, hydrology, wildlife, and archaeology. Just like in California, challenges to the 'environmental review' could have sunk or delayed the whole project. However, the Minister for Quality of Life and the Directorate of Architecture had studied the report and testified that The line would not include any level crossing, which was to be welcomed, but that on the other hand, it would pass above and above some 300 roads of all categories and would be called upon to cross, by means of approximately 130 structures, both permanent watercourses and runoff water. That it was, in addition, envisaged to establish passages for livestock in breeding areas, as well as for game. The Council of State in its meeting of January 5, 1977 accepted these arguments, and work proceeded. After the Declaration of Public Utility is approved, a plot-by-plot survey is done, and amicable settlements take place if possible, or else it goes to court. The price is required by law to include not only the market value, but any extra costs of buying a replacement, the loss of value of the land thats left over, and losses of crops or business. Since the first TGV was built 46 years ago and the cost was in francs, not euros, you can get very different numbers, and the project was phased, which makes it even harder to estimate. One guess is €4.5–4.7 billion, which, at the current Euro-dollar exchange rate, is $5.45 billion. If we take 410 km as the length (even that is subject to dispute), we get a rate of $13,297,561 per km, or $21,400,119 per mile., Two new stations were built (one in open country near Écuisses, and one a few kilometres outside Mâcon. Otherwise existing stations in Paris and Lyon were used. Japan built theShinkansenin 1964, from Tokyo to Osaka. It went 320 km/h (199 mph), and different gauge track from their normal trains. There are now 380 trains a day carrying about 460,000 passengers. You just have to shake your head in awe, and it'snowonder that it seemed so trivial to California voters. After all, Japan did it 62 years ago! So let's take the most recentShinkansen, so we get a more even comparison with California. This would be the Hokuriku Shinkansen extension from Kanazawa to Tsuruga, opened in March 2024: The old Japanese National Railway was broken up in 1987 into multiple companies, so this line was built by West Japan Railway Company, formerly JR West (listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange). The Japanese government does not own shares in the company, although government approval is still required for many decisions. Japan has a required environmental review for Class One projects like this. There were committee hearings, a route change, and wetland restoration. There was no lawsuit that stopped construction; rather, there were many committee hearings. The Nakaikemi Wetland in Tsuruga became an issue, because the planned Miyama / Fukayama tunnel sat in the hills that feed the wetland. After consultation with experts, the tunnel was moved and waterproof lining was added. A followup committee monitored the water flow. The Japanese procedure is pretty much the same as in other countries: a survey is done and the owners identified, and then an offer is made. According to Japanese law, multiple factors must be taken into account besides land market value: business compensation, relocation costs, loss of value of the remaining sliver, etc. If the owner refuses to accept, a judge can calculate a fair offer and expropriate the land. The cost was ¥1.67 trillion (~$11–15 billion depending on the exchange rate used). If Grok is right, that's about $195 million per mile. All the stations already existed. This is not a single train line, but 50,400 km of trains. China has 2/3 of the world's high-speed rail; i.e. more than the whole rest of the world put together. The most recent line put into service is the Xi'an–Shiyan, so we'll talk about that. It's 257 km and runs at 350 km/h. It opened in June 2026, with construction starting in 2021. The China State Railway Group runs the whole thing. There are 50,000 km of high-speed rail as of early 2025, so they have alotof experience at this. The draft Environmental Impact Report was online from the 11th to the 23rd of Oct 2019. Public comments were received in 2018 and 2019. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) signed off on it in September 2021. The approval came with a long list ofmandatorychanges, including stopping work on tunnel portals if musk deer appeared, full restoration with native soil and native plants at 49 sites in the Shaanxi section, and noise / vibration limits. The route was shifted several times to avoid cutting the surface and to stay off theQinglongshan dinosaur-egg fossil reserve. There is a published schedule of compensation for different types of property, e.g. Earth-wood house, 650–750 yuan/m², $9.00–$10.38 per sq ft Brick-wood house, 750–850 yuan/m², $10.38–$11.77 per sq ft Moving + transition fee, 5,000 yuan per household, about $745 per household Early-move bonus, another 5,000 yuan per household, about $745 per household It should be noted that, although there are procedures for appeal, these do not lead to hundreds of eminent domain suits with independently appraised fair market value and a right to hold out, as in the US. It cost 47.7 billion yuan, which works out to about $44.5 million per mile. There were 7 stations, of which 6 were new. The French companies SNCF and its partner engineering companies Systra and Alstom haveexportedtheir expertise to a number of other countries. SNCF was also involved with the California project until they left in disgust, as we'll see in the next article. In 2004, theKTX-Iopened between Seoul and Busan, using TGV technology. It travels at 190 mph. A line from Madrid to Seville was opened 1992 using TGV technology The Acela line on the East Coast uses Alstom/TGV traction technology, although the line is not managed by SNCF. The Jakarta–BandungWhooshline opened in 2023. It's 142 km and runs at 217 mph. It's completely Chinese in design and construction. We notice commonalities among these countries who've built high-speed rail: In every case, the management of the line was done by companies or government ministries who had done it before. Environmental impact was taken seriously in every country, and damages to the environment were avoided or minimized. However, that process was usually confined to a single period of time, and after it was completed and changes were mandated, the work could not be held up for environmental damage any more. Property owners and residents were compensated according to carefully worked-out schedules, and usually (not always) they had avenues for legal redress. In every country, disputes over valuation were not allowed to hold up construction. The next article will go over California and we'll see how it's different.