Yes it really is shocking, especially when you look at how much more expensive HS2 is than pretty much any other high speed rail project.
It isn't crossing particularly challenging terrain.
The money to purchase the land is only a small percentage of the total cost.
The rest is just mismanagement at best.
https://transitcosts.com/high-speed-...data-analysis/
This website shows how much of an outlier we are.
Some people have got very rich from this project and the country has yet to see any benefit