Texas’ Long-Awaited Bullet Train Plans to Start Construction

Yes. Torture. My longest Amtrak was like 18 hours. I'd say within 3 hours I found it impossible to not cramp up on Amtrak. My ass cheeks were cramped and I carved out two seats illegally, walked around, went to the view train, and it was nearly unbearable. You will try to sleep to get to the end. But there's no way to sleep comfortably, not even in the view deck where I totally tried to lay out. Yes. Bring a pillow. Dining really sucks. Don't do it is all I can say unless your trip is under 4 hours.

 

First world problems.

 

I’d use it to go visit Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio, and even New Orleans. I think New Orleans is the farthest out I would go.

 

Set aside oil demand for a second. Switching out gas cars with electric merely transfers where emissions are released. Electricity is 63% fossil fuels with 25% using the horrible carbon emitter — Coal. Another 19% of electricity is from Nuclear powered plants.

The great thing about switching from gas cars to electric isn’t no emissions, it’s that we transfer power generation to a more centralized/distributed model where our emissions abatement technology costs achieve better results at reducing global emissions.

But, we also create a lot of very dirty mining to make the requisite batteries. Ugh

 

How much of it is torture because she traveled in coach for almost 4 days continuously? I wouldn't want to sit on an airplane or bus without showering for 4 days, either. lol. Amtrak has better sleeping accommodations than a coach seat for long journeys. But that being said, I've been wanting to take random train rides around the US, and the worst part of them from research are the possible breakdowns and delays. Well, that, and it seems to take forever to get anywhere. But for short trips? It shouldn't be that bad. For long trips cross-country, I wouldn't get on a train unless I had something better than coach or some stops/layovers along the way.

 

I remember doing an Amtrak trip from Houston to the East coast as a kid in coach. Initially upon boarding, I could not believe my Dad did not splurge and get us our own cabins. It's not like he didn't have the money. He didn't even have an explanation for it. It's like...we get on the train and...oops! We get to admire those that have cabins for the duration of the trip. That said...it was a definite adventure that I'm glad I experienced. And, I didn't have no dang empty seat next to me.

 

Cost is about the price of decent hotel room for the Sleeper, $300 to $600 per night. It's worth it for your sanity, but it's no better than a prison cell.

 

After Dallas, I foresee a connection to OKC, then a bee-line to Denver for skiing/vacation.
That is one flat ride, perfect for trains.

People call Colorado the playground of Texas. I’m willing to bet a Dallas to Denver bullet train, even with Euro-style, quick-stop in OKC might beat a direct flight in total travel time to downtown Denver hotels, if it stops at Union Station. DIA to Downtown adds another hour to travel via air.

Could be a game-changer for skiiing weekends (and cannabis vacas), especially since ski-bags often get charged extra fees on airlines. Trains could also support more camping gear for summer trips than you otherwise couldn’t take via plane.

 

I keep thinking this is something that is just never going to actually happen like Disney Land Katy and Earthquest, but stuff keeps getting put out there that this is really moving forward.


https://www.click2houston.com/news/...d-train-that-will-connect-houston-and-dallas/

 

Love it.

DD

 

We absolutely need a robust high-speed rail system in this country. And a robust secondary line network. And a robust tertiatry network. I love the train systems in Europe and hope to see something similar here before I die.

Also, another benefit to electric vehicles is the reduced maintenance cost. Many fewer moving parts. A study recently found that one of the reasons individual dealerships are going out of their way to discourage EV purchases is the reduced profit from the service department.

 

I'm all for it if it is something people will use, but I'm concerned about the 'last mile' problem. So what do you do when you get to Dallas? Uber everywhere, or do you need to rent a car? Is the inconvenience and likely higher overall cost of taking the train worth it to enough people?

Part of the reason why high speed trains work so well in other countries is that their city transportation works a lot better, whereas in the US we have lots of nice special interest/lobbying groups who go out of their way to kill any kind of public transport if possible.

 

It has been a while since I needed to go to Dallas for business, but I would typically choose a hotel within walking distance of where I needed to be. As long as they have uber/shuttle bus that connects the train to each downtown, the inconvenience won't likely be a big deal for business travelers.

 

What do you do if you fly to a city? People find the "inconvenience" of not having a car worthwhile when flying between the cities already.

It would be nice to have an integrated commuter rail system in Dallas and Houston but I don't think any of us will ever see that happen.

What's the alternative? Have people drive their F-150's between the cities until the end of time and b**ch about how they don't have an alternative?

Let's build up the rail system in this state and maybe our kids can have a nice integrated commuter rail/bullet train system sometime in their lifetime. Or I guess we could just keep driving cars between the cities forever.

 

Miami to West Palm Beach already has rail service. Expanding to Orlando soon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Trains_USA

 

I think that would be very popular if the trains are similar to those in Europe and Japan (never been to China, just Hong Kong). We would certainly use it. Anyone here who hasn't used the trains in Europe simply doesn't understand what we are missing. The trains I've taken in Switzerland? They take great pride in being on time. You can watch the clock from the window of your seat at the station, and when the minute hand reaches the departure time, the train begins to quietly move.

Heck, I road on the first "bullet train" in Japan in the mid-'60's from Tokyo to Osaka. It was highly controversial at the time and considered far too expensive to build. The rails were specially built to handle the very high speeds. There was none of the swaying and noise we experience here. It was completed in October of 1964 and became a great success. The six and a half hour trip to Osaka was reduced to a little over 3 hours, cut more than half, with the train reaching speeds up to 200 mph. Smooth, quiet, comfortable, modern. What an eye opener! Today, high speed trains across Japan are carrying are tens of millions of passengers, with average delays of under a minute.

Build them, don't make them too expensive for average people to use, and they will be a great success. The link below has a good article about them.

https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/ja...-first-and-still-best-high-speed-rail-network

 

File this under "I told you so"...KM just dumped a ton of bentonite into the aquifer in south Blanco County in a construction accident that the company calls "an underground drilling fluid loss" (@B-Bob, this reminds me of "unrequested fission surplus"). People's water wells are ****ed, can't drink, can't bathe, can't wash dishes...in the middle of a pandemic. Assholes.

 

Mass transit’s failure reminds me of remarks Noam made about it. You can advertise cars for yourself and the women you can pick up with. No one is going to put out a commercial for buses in the US like they do for personal things. Communal goods aren’t in the bucket of aspirational goods that stroke your competitive Individualistic ego.

Inherent mindset of those cultures is different in that regard.

But it’s nice to have a car. Nothing beats the idea of being young, packing up all your things and making a new life for yourself with a quickly planned road trip. Can’t do that with a bullet train.

Can’t do that with ridiculous rent and housing everywhere now, either...

 

So true, @Invisible Fan. I did all those things when I was young. The whole nine yards. Rent, housing, and so much more were ridiculously cheap in my day, as I’ve mentioned elsewhere. I don’t envy young Americans today, “young” being anyone under 40. Not for that. I envy their age and the hair on top of their collective heads.

I’d still like the bullet trains. ;-)