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We actually did this with the Chinese and Irish immigrants [1], and some rail lines would kill off workers to avoid paying them once a rail line was complete.
by trome 10y ago
We actually did this with the Chinese and Irish immigrants [1], and some rail lines would kill off workers to avoid paying them once a rail line was complete.
That being said, American labor isn't the issue, Chinese already cost $4/hr and importing them costs quite a bit, whereas the labor market stateside is pretty soft in that segment. It likely would not make sense unless your good with mass executions to cut costs.
1 - http://web.stanford.edu/group/chineserailroad/cgi-bin/wordpress/timeline/ http://web.stanford.edu/group/chineserailroad/cgi-bin/wordpr...
Edit: dmoy states labor is $4/hr in China, not $3/hr.
- yummyfajitas 10y agoChina and India do not currently execute their train construction crews, so I don't see why we would need to. If we can hire American labor for cheap (i.e. less than Davis Bacon wages) let's do that - but then don't use labor costs as an excuse why CA rail costs > 10x what Chinese rail does.
- trome 10y agoIt is part of the reason why it'd cost more, we also have much higher safety standards (our rail cars are only allowed to crush in 1 inch, as compared to over a foot of crush allowed in Europe), an expensive right of way acquisition process, massive environmental impact statements ("Lets quantify the impact on the average person in this area"), and much more community involvement in the design process. Unless we can steal land and cut corners when building, the costs are unlikely to drop much.
- dmoy 10y agoTo clarify: (average) construction labor in Beijing, I wouldn't be surprised if it was cheaper outside of Beijing (but I also don't know)