# MISC | Most Expensive Railways



## Girona Airport (Aug 10, 2009)

I was just looking at the forum and a question came into my mind that Which Is the Most expensive railway of the world which is also being used for travel by public? may be someone here can answer that...
Thanks


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## gincan (Feb 1, 2006)

Probably the Channel Tunnel, it cost 5,8 billion pounds. The Seikan Tunnel which was constructed a decade earlier cost 4 billion dollars.


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## The Chemist (Feb 19, 2003)

Well, the pricetag of the new Beijing-Shanghai HSR (not yet finished, but under construction) is estimated to be over 30 billion dollars. I don't think that many railways can top that for price.


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## JoKo65 (Feb 28, 2007)

gincan said:


> Probably the Channel Tunnel, it cost 5,8 billion pounds.
> 
> […]


I think the same.


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## JoKo65 (Feb 28, 2007)

The Chemist said:


> Well, the pricetag of the new Beijing-Shanghai HSR (not yet finished, but under construction) is estimated to be over 30 billion dollars. I don't think that many railways can top that for price.


Ok, if we don't watch the distance but only the price, then the Transsib should be one of the most expensive ones.


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## railcity (Apr 4, 2007)

JoKo65 said:


> Ok, if we don't watch the distance but only the price, then the Transsib should be one of the most expensive ones.


Especially if human lives are added to the pricetag.


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## gincan (Feb 1, 2006)

The Chemist said:


> Well, the pricetag of the new Beijing-Shanghai HSR (not yet finished, but under construction) is estimated to be over 30 billion dollars. I don't think that many railways can top that for price.


For those 30 billion you get 1,300km of HSR, less than 23 million per km. The Seikan tunnel cost 3,6 billion for less than 54km, some 67 million per km and that without adjusting for 20 years of inflation.

Although a rather short construction, the 8,5km tunnel they are constructing right now in the south of Sweden will probably end up among the most expensive railway constructions ever. Due to extreme cost overruns the final price tag is expected to exceed 1 billion euros, ten times the original budget.


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## pi_malejana (Jul 15, 2007)

according to a gov't critic in RP, the northrail project costs about $800million; with a distance of only 32 km, that means approx. *$25million* is spent per kilometer...

:cheers:


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## FML (Feb 1, 2006)

Some Japanese lines that were costly to built:
(¥ = Japanese yen, $ = US dollars. No inflation considered, the currency rate is as of today)

Yokohama Minatomirai Railway Minatomirai Line: 4.1 km, ¥ 260 billion ($ 2.99 billion), $ 729 million per km
Nakayama Tunnel of Joetsu Shinkansen: 14.8 km, ¥ 842 billion ($ 9.69 billion), $ 654 million per km
TWR Rinkai Line: 12.2 km, ¥ 440 billion ($ 5.06 billion), $ 414 million per km
Toei Oedo Line: 40.7 km, ¥ 1,392 billion ($ 15.9 billion), $ 391 million per km
Tokyo Metro Namboku Line: 21.3 km, ¥ 560 billion ($ 6.44 billion), $ 302 million per km

Except of Nakayama Tunnel, all of them are recently built subway lines.


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## earthJoker (Dec 15, 2004)

The Gotthard base tunnel will cost about CHF160millions=$160millions per km.


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## webeagle12 (Oct 1, 2007)

railcity said:


> Especially if human lives are added to the pricetag.


:|:wtf::wtf::wtf:


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## yuriwon (Sep 22, 2009)

FML said:


> Some Japanese lines that were costly to built:
> (¥ = Japanese yen, $ = US dollars. No inflation considered, the currency rate is as of today)
> 
> Yokohama Minatomirai Railway Minatomirai Line: 4.1 km, ¥ 260 billion ($ 2.99 billion), $ 729 million per km
> ...


I think Japan too.


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## GENIUS LOCI (Nov 18, 2004)

earthJoker said:


> The Gotthard base tunnel will cost about CHF160=$160 per km.


160 millions, I guess


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## earthJoker (Dec 15, 2004)

^^ corrected


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

the Glasgow to London upgrading to HSL, at only 522 miles takes the biscuit. It comes in at $56 - $82 billion:


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## city_thing (May 25, 2006)

webeagle12 said:


> :|:wtf::wtf::wtf:


Never heard of Stalin or the Serfs, hey?

Google the Transiberian Railroad.


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## city_thing (May 25, 2006)

gincan said:


> For those 30 billion you get 1,300km of HSR, less than 23 million per km. The Seikan tunnel cost 3,6 billion for less than 54km, some 67 million per km and that without adjusting for 20 years of inflation.
> 
> Although a rather short construction, the 8,5km tunnel they are constructing right now in the south of Sweden will probably end up among the most expensive railway constructions ever. Due to extreme cost overruns the final price tag is expected to exceed 1 billion euros, ten times the original budget.


What tunnel is being built in Southern Sweden - the one that goes through central Malmo?


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## loefet (Dec 30, 2008)

^^ Nope not the one in Malmö, but through the Hallandsås Ridge, a bit north of Malmö. And by the looks of it at the moment, then it will end up at around $170 million/km...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallandsås_Tunnel

But you never know, the cost may go up even more, since they only done 63% at the moment...


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## makita09 (Sep 8, 2009)

HS1 section 2, from Ebbslfleet to London, cost £85m ($140m)/km


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## 2co2co (Apr 8, 2008)

Maglev Chuo Shinkansen for Tokyo-Osaka, 9trillion yen ($100B...?)


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## bluemeansgo (Oct 28, 2008)

the spliff fairy said:


> the Glasgow to London upgrading to HSL, at only 522 miles takes the biscuit. It comes in at $56 - $82 billion:


That's ~$75-$100M / km.

While we're including railways not yet built...

The Chuo Shinkansen line, from Tokyo to Nagoya will probably be one of the most expensive to date.

The grey line is the approximate routing. 









If Route choice 3 is chosen, it will be 286km and 5.10 TRILLION JPY or about 60B$ USD.
source

*That's ~$209M USD/km*. mg:

I still can't believe it's being funded by a private company.


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## poshbakerloo (Jan 16, 2007)

the spliff fairy said:


> the Glasgow to London upgrading to HSL, at only 522 miles takes the biscuit. It comes in at $56 - $82 billion:


yellow train!? hno:


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## bluemeansgo (Oct 28, 2008)

poshbakerloo said:


> yellow train!? hno:


Wicked train! I'm sick of boring colors for trains. Gimme yellow any day.


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## OperateOnMe (Jan 27, 2007)

the spliff fairy said:


> the Glasgow to London upgrading to HSL, at only 522 miles takes the biscuit. It comes in at $56 - $82 billion:


Although China and Sweden can argue about the most expensive rail network in the next couple of years, the UK with its 'white-collar' corruption will have 'the most expensive railway of the world,' in the future, if it doesn't already. I estimate it will cost at least ~£100bn for this line alone by completion

:lol:

Interestingly reading history and the comments about life above, the whole UK rail network is probably the worlds most expensive at the moment in most dimension inc. loss of lives, money spent (with inflation considered)...


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## UD2 (Jan 21, 2006)

any of you guys think about the Qinghai-Xizang (a.k.a. Tibet) railway? 

that one is really expensive.... anybody have a price tag?

infact. in real terms adjusted for inflation and PPP. I don't think any railway can top it.


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## Restless (Oct 31, 2009)

UD2 said:


> any of you guys think about the Qinghai-Xizang (a.k.a. Tibet) railway?
> 
> that one is really expensive.... anybody have a price tag?
> 
> infact. in real terms adjusted for inflation and PPP. I don't think any railway can top it.


Here are the official figures at the time of completion in 2007:

1142km of 1-track railway
33 Billion RMB (4.9 Billion USD at current exchange rates)

That makes it $4.8million per km.

That is twice as expensive as a normal track in China, but still a bargain in my opinion


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## sotavento (May 12, 2005)

Why are people putting proposed MAGLEV costs in here ??? 


It's a well known fact that MAGLEV isn't built everywhere because it is preciselly bloody expensive to built them. :dunno:


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