Rainforest
Senior Member
While we in the peanut gallery are most interested in the 0%-5% part of a design process (where does the line go? where are the stations? will it fit between these traffic lanes?), the 5%-100% part (how thick is the concrete layer under the tracks at the crest of the hill? how are the transformers arranged in mechanical room 15A?) is a bit boring but still kind of important.
Obviously those real design bits are very important, but they are far less controversial than the first 5%. The first 5% is where everybody wants their views on the route / alignment / station spacing etc being taken into account. The remaining 95% are guided by the established engineering practices and do not trigger public debates.