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.
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.