Over budget, over time, under benefit, over and over.
Flyvbjerg's data across 258 projects in 20 countries: nine in ten exceed budget, with rail averaging 45% over. The consistency is what makes it a law rather than a complaint.
In practice
- A tram extension is announced at £400m and eight years, and opens at £900m in year fourteen carrying two-thirds the forecast passengers.
- A hospital IT programme costed at £2bn is abandoned at £10bn, and the business case was optimistic on all three dimensions simultaneously.