To put this into perspective, China’s high-speed rail project in Indonesia connecting Jakarta and Bandung (a distance of 143 km) at a speed of 350 km/h was completed in just four months at total cost of $7.3 billion.
This line has seen an impressive number of passengers, with approximately 2 million people utilizing the service.
That and the land the US is trying to build through is extremely expensive like some of the most expensive land in the world.
Why is it expensive?
Because a bunch of rich people think it’s worth it I guess
So the issue seems to be private ownership of land, not the locale
I guess? It’s really both as it is more expensive compared to mostly all privately owned land.