$8.5 Billion Olympics Railroad Leaves Environmental Ruin

A railroad and parallel road that lead from Sochi up to the surrounding mountains where skiing events will take place is, at $8.5 billion, the most expensive piece of Russia's Olympics apparatus. But the price paid by the surrounding environment might be even higher.

No one seems sure whether Russian Railways, the state-owned firm building the track, conducted environmental impact studies before breaking ground on the project. If there were studies, they appear to have held little sway over how construction was conducted, as life in the area surrounding the railroad is at risk even before athletes begin to arrive. Read more...