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DT and the Chao woman are just biding for time until a way can be found for NYC and other connected developers/financers to make a killing on this deal.
Under His Orangeness this Hudson Rail Tunnel project is never going to be a federal/local state funded deal. As these so called estimates of costs rise he will push his only plan to date for infrastructrure; private investment.
There are other options and IIRC both NYS and NJ are considering. That is if it must be a public/private scheme then under terms that are favorbable than the normal raping and lotting of a populace that comes from private investment.
Sadly there isn't a railroad left in USA large enough to take on this project even if you gave them the NEC. Amtrak is barely earning, and has already pledged future revenue form NEC to pay for part of its share.
The large and financially secure freight railroads want nothing much to do (or at all) with passenger service. And before anyone starts, no; you cannot use the current Hudson river tunnels nor even build new ones that can handle freight. The conditons underwater just won't allow. PRR tried it once and it was so much of a disaster that was end of any futher discussion.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but there was a proposal to build an extra tunnel over the Hudson, which had to be signed off by the governors of the two states! Cuomo signed it! Christie vetoed it! Then came Sandy! And here we are.....!
Build it. The supertalls and condos keep going up. The infrastructure needs to keep up with NYC's population growth.
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