An interesting article from Railway Age e-news sister publication Railway Track and Structures follows below.

Of note, the $56B is for 975 route miles (no doubt double tracked, plus facilities, rolling stock etc.); a cost of $57 million per mile.  Now, all the materials and vehicles would be imported, but one would think the land and construction costs (labor) would be minimal.

By comparison, the California HSR plan, the last I saw, was to cost $45B for about 800 route miles (double tracked), for a per mile cost of $56 million (wow, how about that).  By comparison, Florida's HSR project for 90 miles, is estimated at $2.5 billion, or $27 million per mile.  Even when one adds the supposed $1 billion value of the FL DOT right of way, you net a number of $38 million per mile.  Seems to me someone is wrong here.  If California is right, the FL Tampa-Orlando segment is more likely to cost from $3.5 to $5 billion.

Jim Langston