3 possible routes for Houston-Dallas high speed rail, one to be selected in 90 days

To see sacred SEC Football in the glorious state of Texas.

 

Keep It blue. Does College station really want that much more pedestrian traffic?

 

Isn't I-35 much more packed than 45? It connects Mexico - San Antonio - Austin - Dallas.

 

This is an interesting calculation and was less than I thought

250 miles x 5,280 feet per mile x 80 foot right of way/ 43,560 square feet per acre
only equals 2424 acres of total right of way.

However, much the same as my argument for monorails and sky trams over streetcars, the problems come with conflicts of existing land uses. You've got people, farms, roads, other trains, people who don't want a train on their property, mayors who don't want traffic zipping through their town with no tax revenue, people who hate eminent domain for private enterprise etc. etc.

Lockheed Martin is a Ft. Worth company of considerable political clout.

 

As someone with a townhouse there that knows how to use airbnb.com, yes, yes we do.

If the model for this rail expansion has already been laid out, and it's a direct shot, that makes the most sense. The pee-pee cities really are non-factors.

 

blue looks like the best option

 

Blue

New rail at 205mph is safer than old rail lines
Green has quite a few change of direction turns that bother me

 

Yeah, I'd prefer a straight shot...I dont feel like being in one of those where the driver is texting right before a 90 degree turn at 200 mph.

 

The blue route seems to be the best in theory, but there's no way in hell it will ever happen. Running through the Woodlands equates to one huge cluster**** of eminent domain nightmare. It's already tighter than a fat woman in spandex through there. Then add in redoing every overpass between Houston/Dallas. Blue is a pipe dream.

 

I'm convinced by this logic. Sure, it'd be great for CS to have HSR to Dallas and Houston, but Houston-Dallas business travelers will be the bread-and-butter of such a train. High frequency travel and a higher willingness to pay. Secure that customer segment first before bothering with anyone else. I-45 route also has benefit of grabbing Woodlands commuters, with a lot of oil & gas employees there.

I believe the CS stop is part of the mini-triangle concept that would use that stop to split off another line down to Austin and San Antonio. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me because you've added extra distance for Houston travelers to all the major cities.

 

The train should hit College Station and Conroe along 45 into Houston. 45 is deep for about 50 miles. Since there's pretty much nothing between Huntsville and Corsicana the train could be routed into CS then to Dallas.

Combine Red out of Dallas and direct it to College Station. Then run the train SE into 45 Conroe. This would combine existing rail and minimize new construction while serving the most people.

 

Black looks pretty good. I like having options.

 

I vote airship. da1, compromise?

 

Airship travel will never take off in the US. Because, like it or nor, fair or not, people will always associate it with this:

 

OH, THE HUMANITY!!!

 

Blue line.

Make it happ'n, cap'n.

 

No one traveling on the airship would have even been around to remember the Hindenburg.

Trains use a ton of energy because of their weight, require energy to construct the rail which uses land, and massive maintenance costs. Airships require little energy, minuscule land, and much less noise pollution. Really you could have the base in The Heights and no one would care. High speed rail is loud as hell, if one was 40 feet from your house you would move.


Canada is already moving on this and WE CANNOT ALLOW THERE TO BE AN AIRSHIP GAP WITH THE CANADIANS!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The Hindenburg was filled with hydrogen, extremely flammable hydrogen and framed with balsa wood. Airships are filled with helium, inert helium and are framed with aluminum.

The Hindenburg's cockpit did not look like this