> The estimated cost of the Long Island Rail Road project, > The competing services for infra in NYC are cabs, car pools, private buses, bike rentals, scooters

> The estimated cost of the Long Island Rail Road project, > The competing services for infra in NYC are cabs, car pools, private buses, bike rentals, scooters, subways. You're conflating the infrastructure with the service on top of it. The equal comparison would be railroad project to motorcar roads & bridges. And the latter also have their share of cost overrun stories... (Also, bridges are the rare case where a ship can compete. But, well, every rule has its exceptions.) Oh and the fact that it's (even unreasonably) expensive has no bearing at all on the argument. There ain't gonna be some competitor building their own railway line regardless, or especially since the first one was so expensive.