You might remember the popular “Austin Powers” film trilogy (1997-2002) and one of the memorable lines voiced by the Mike Myers’ character Dr. Evil that is endlessly repeated during financial turmoil and is a familiar social media meme.

“One million dollars,” said the not-so-good Dr. Evil who first used the figure in 1997, as his ransom price for the entire planet.

But, inflation has made that once lofty number an anachronism. In the age of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, does anyone talk of “millionaires” any more?

Try saying it as “one b-i-l-l-i-o-n dollars.”

Because that’s the somewhat startling potential cost of replacing 28 old and decaying bridge structures along the 22-mile coastal route. This high-end number was put out there during a March 12 online information session held by the county Regional Transportation Commission. Engineering officials used that number (actually $980 million) as an estimate that could be revised later. Replacing or rebuilding the bridges (there’s 33 along the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line) would be one of the many costs of establishing passenger rail.

In our March 4 Editorial about planning and expensive studies to advance the dream of a coastal passenger train (a comprehensive report on the Zero Emission Passenger Rail and Trail Project has been delayed until fall) we said many questions still need answers before both local taxpayer and more state and federal money is put into the train. These include: What are ridership projections? Travel time? Environmental obstacles? The cost and feasibility of proposed passenger rail stations along the 22 miles of the rail line?

Previous overall cost estimates have been in the range of half a billion dollars, a significant sum in a time when the county is facing a financial crunch anticipating a cutoff of much of its funding from the federal government.

That estimate might be too low, considering the high end cost of bridge replacements the RTC has unveiled. In any case, local voters will almost certainly be asked to pass yet another tax measure to provide funding for the train.

Our editorial brought on guest commentaries from two longtime proponents of a train, both of whom used this forum to take issue with our opinion a train will in the end be too costly and will remain a far-off possibility.

Veteran Regional Transportation Commission member Mike Rotkin wrote in a March 7 Guest Commentary that supporters of rail should not be dismayed by a dozen or so local residents writing negative letters to the editor about a train (he said these letter writers should be limited or cut off), and that the RTC is following the will of voters who passed a transportation bond in 2016 and then overwhelmingly voted in support of rail in 2022.

“Even if it is a long time off, we must preserve the rail corridor for the purpose for which it was purchased: a desperately needed public transit system through our county that is not ground down in traffic,” Rotkin wrote.

And Jim Weller, whose website is “landtitle.guru.com” and a frequent contributor to our Opinion section (we don’t limit his letters or commentaries) also took issue with our conclusions and opinions. Weller weighs in again on this issue, an the billion dollar gambit, in a Letter to the Editor published today.

In his March 8 Guest Commentary, Weller also addressed the funding issues, in particular a future tax that he wrote would be an excise tax not a property tax ,which would be “widely distributed across the county, paid by residents and visitors alike” and likely needed by the mid-2030s for a local match to expected state and federal funds,

Notwithstanding the criticism, the Sentinel’s position continues to be that completing the coastal trail should be the priority — which Rotkin said is already the RTC’s priority with trail segments from the Westside of Santa Cruz to the trestle over the San Lorenzo River either completed or under construction, as is a segment along the North Coast.

So that’s good news.

And voters and taxpayers will await the oncoming news about a commuter train we think is simply not feasible because of the many costs, and because potential ridership wouldn’t seem to justify … one billion dollars?