Texas’ Long-Awaited Bullet Train Plans to Start Construction

I dispute your usage of the word "best option". Rail in any country on Earth is a national endeavor. The closest analogy is the US Interstate system required a Federal program to pull through. It's just too big of a project for private industry as can be seen here.

The Vision of the whole Texas project is simply underwhelming. So I can get to Dallas? Great. Next question, why can't I get to Austin, or New Orleans, or LA, or Toronto? For stuff like this, go big or go home. This is exactly why it needs to be a Federal program.

All that said, there is no national appetite so realistically, I understand why you say we need private industry to take lead. But it's a tough path as you must compete with the airlines. Saying that out loud, we should incentivize the airlines to invest in rail.

Here is a Vision: Eliminate all regional jets (or flights that are <1.5 hrs) from the market and replace all that traffic with HSR (by 2050)

If we could incentivize the airlines to take lead, I think we could dream up a scenario where they would embrace that model. Their current business model is dependent upon fossil fuel, which is unsustainable and is clear every time oil prices jump over about $120 barrel. They see this train coming down the tracks but they don't have an offramp as they are fundamentally tied to a high asset operating structure (planes). No one airline can be the first mover as that would put them at a cashflow disadvantage so you have to incentivize the entire market. All airlines already have access to airports, operated by local governments which already owns that land, which makes sense that the public could arrive from a long haul flight and make their connection right from the airport. Make it happen!

 

man, i haven't "seen you" in forever. Hope you're doing well!!

 

Do people fly to Austin or Dallas...as the final destination from Houston?? I guess business travelers?

 

Me, personally...I would fly to Dallas if I had a reason to be there (like a meeting or I lost a bet) early on a weekday and couldn't get away the evening before. But I can't imagine flying to Austin from Houston. By the time I deal with airports and add in flight time, I imagine that's about the same time it takes to drive there.

 

Yes, constantly. Between United, SWA, AA, I'm guessing there are about 20 daily flights between IAH-DFW. I figure that's at least 720,000 trips annually just between Houston and Dallas. What % of those trip do you think are local?

That said, not sure why you make the distinction between local trips. I went to Dallas last month with my team. I actually took Vonlane bus service. The rest of my team flew. I worked the whole time and got a crap load of work done so it was great. If there was a HST, no doubt my entire team would have taken that instead.

 

I've been thinking about Vonlane? How are the prices?

I usually just do the Megabus because the tickets are cheaper.

 

well i am asking because i am wondering how many those flights are a 2nd leg of a longer itinerary . I don't expect those people on longer journeys to get off and take a train.
The train would be used by folks who are starting and ending in Houston...so the direct comparison would be how many are flying iah/hou to dfw/luv..

 

Tickets are about $120. All the seats are like a 1st class seats you'd find in a plane. Free wifi. They have an attendant that offers food and drinks, including alcohol, which is not extra).

Savings:
Drive downtown vs IAH: saves 25 min
Security: bus = 0 min. TSA = 15 min (at best)
Wait to board: bus = 5 min. Plane = 1 hr. (they recommend you arrive 2 hrs early, yea right)
Boarding. bus = 5 min. Plane = 20 min
Travel. bus = 4 hr. Plane = 1 hr.
Deboard. bus = 5 min. Plane = 20 min
Exit airport. bus = 0, Plane = 20-40 min

Uber to downtown: $10. Uber to IAH: $50 (or cost of parking = 8-$50/day)
Vonlane = $115. United = $170 SWA = $311

All in:
Bus = 4hr, 15min & $125
Plane = 3hr, 50min & >$220

Plus the bus is sooooo much more pleasant and can be productive.

So yea, if there was a 90min train, that is a no-brainer.

 

Trains may run every 30 min.
Or you could have a 2-3hr layover (and hope there aren't any delays.)

Have you been to Europe? I've landed and jumped on a plane numerous times. If my arrival time is within an hour or so, the train is always so much more pleasant. Sometimes it's even the cheaper option and sometimes it's the faster option. Sometimes it's both cheaper and faster. But in Europe, you at least have that option. Here you are kinda locked in and fully at their mercy.

 

I have taken trains in China including the maglev, Vietnam (cheap 2-3$ ones lol) and high speed rail in spain and italy.

When I flew into Milan, after I landed, I went to the train station and boarded the high speed rail to Rome (i think it was 3 hours?).
So ya I am familiar with what you mean.....question is will Americans do it?

 

I don't think anybody needs to go to Dallas for anything and nobody really needs to go to Houston for anything. It's also not like either are major vacation destinations or anything. It's not like people in those inconsequential states in the NE having to travel around to each others' states because they're so small or they have to travel for work. In Texas, you can travel 8-10 hours easily and still be in Texas but nowhere near a major city, but who the hell really wants to go from Houston to El Paso for a vacation? lol. It would be different if it were from NYC to LA or Florida, Boston to NYC or even among major cities in California, I guess.

 

Did Dallas and Austin this year. Redcoach is better than Megabus and prices are comparable.

 

Make it easy to do, and yes, Americans will do it. People WILL walk/bike/train if people don't feel like they are putting their lives at risk cause there are no proper sidewalks and cars are speeding by at 60mph.

Building a train system needs to be inclusive of a holistic transportation mindset. If you simply try to shoehorn a train into a system that remains car centric, then I agree with you, Americans won't do it. Because we keep making it easier for cars and harder for everything else.

These are choices we make. We choose to make it easier for cars.

 

Such an odd statement. If nobody needs to travel to El Paso, then we should just rip up the freeways too. Why bother, right?

Your statement perfectly illustrates the problem of why Americans stay locked into our current paradigm. If your mindset is you only need trains to accommodate vacations, you're doing it wrong.

I don't have the stats but I'd guess 90% of the subway rides in NYC are local traffic, not vacations. Megabus and Vonlane have been running bus service between Houston/Dallas for years. United has 7 daily flights. That isn't vacation traffic.

 

There you go comparing NYC to Texas. I already stated places like the NE are perfect places for trains, but you're on a soapbox stating why I'm the problem when I'm pro-trains for several cases. And my statement about nobody really needing to go to Dallas and Houston was sort of tongue-in-cheek because I don't consider either one any type of destination city (especially not the boring hellhole that is Dallas). Now if business-types want a train to conduct their super-cereal business meetings face-to-face, work while they ride the choo-choo, or whatever other myriad of reasons you can come up with, by all means, go ahead and fund it.

I'd take a bullet train from DFW to Houston just for giggles once or twice. I wouldn't pay to do it regularly, though. It wouldn't make sense for me. I, also personally, wouldn't want to live in a place like NYC with people cramped into buildings on top of each other and then go subterranean and ride trains through dirty, grafitti-riddled sewer pipes where random crazy crap happens daily and call it advancement. I also understand roads aren't the solution, but I enjoy driving and being in control of where I go and when I go on my own schedule when I travel. Now if you can do something like Japan, Europe, or China have done modern trains, keeping it safe, clean, etc. I'm all for it. But hey, at least Amtrak was gifted with some new locomotives, finally. Maybe the Texas lines will get one of them soon and it won't take 20 hours to get from Houston to El Paso, assuming no usual breakdowns. Well, assuming the rails in between can handle those speeds. In the meantime, I'll just wait for the Texas bullet train, watch things like DART rail and its joke of a ridership-per-expenditure, and listen to why I'm part of the problem.

 

There are plenty of places all over the world with trains that are nothing like NYC. Switzerland has a fraction of the population and you can get everywhere in the entire country by train including tiny towns of like 500-1000 people. Texas could do it too.

Again, it's our mindset that we are trapped into thinking the only good way to get around in America is by car and plane. It's not required, it's the choice we've made.

 

Longest trip would be El Paso to San Antonio and that would still be under 8 hours.