4 korrents from this piece
Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.
Their wordsIn fact, even though growth in average infrastructure costs over time is documented, there is very little cross-national correlation between GDP per capita and per-km subway construction costs.
Their wordsIt’s not that the Anglosphere is rich; it’s that it’s the Anglosphere and builds inefficiently.
Our reading
New York's subway cost premium is overstaffing, oversized stations and procurement, not high wages.
Their wordsWell, we’ve divided the New York cost premium into three tranches: labor (mostly overstaffing, not high wages), station and system design, and procurement and soft costs.
Our reading
Britain has a systemic problem building large infrastructure projects, including reservoirs
Their wordsIt’s turned entire countries, like the United Kingdom, incapable of building more than about one line per generation.