Dreaming of public transportation between Carson City and Reno. How likely is a light rail train route between the two cities?

Besides, he said, in cities that have modern light rail, the light rail itself becomes an attraction that draws visitors to the city. So let’s take a journey back to the future. You step on a train (or BRT) in Carson, turn on the laptop, and before you know it you’re in Reno. On Sunday you take the kids on the train to Washoe Valley for a picnic. Tourists arrive at the Reno Amtrak station and take light rail to the interesting, restored, walkable downtown Carson City. Why not? It could happen.

If it wasn't so expensive to lay rails, it might work. But the article refers to the Phoenix light rail, which is coming in with a bill of $1.6 billion for 20 miles of rail. That's lunacy. Why does it have to be so much? And look at the price tag to rebuild the V&T; $50 million and counting. Just to re-lay rails on a route that's already graded. Maybe the difference is that nowadays we're not paying the Chinese a dollar a day to build railroads, but it still seems like these prices are way out of line for what the finished product is.

Here's a movie of the Sacramento light rail system.

The first 18 miles of this cost $176 million in 1987. So why have prices jumped tenfold since then?