Did someone say NY to Chicago could be profitable? Take out Google Maps and use the “terrain” feature. Guess what it would cost to build an arrow straight right of way across the mountains of Pennsylvania? Ok, that’s 300 miles of the 800 mile route. Now plow through the suburbs of NJ and figure out the cost of that 60 mile stretch.
Politically, you can’t build the line through NJ. You just can’t. All those enviro. and NIMBY enabling laws and procedures that you love? Guess what, they kill rail projects just as easily as highway and airport projects. You can’t add a concrete rail tie in NJ without going through a generation of lawsuits and studies and after it’s all over, you lose anyway.
Te amount of cash you’d have to lay out to get through PA alone would doom the project. And why would PA want it? Are you planning any stops between Scranton and Youngstown? If not, what’s in it for PA?
There is no way you could do this, God couldn’t do it. The idea that there is some COST Effective way to do it is delusional.
