Another thought for Intercity HSR

[AutoTrDvr]

Could Texas be a good candidate for some Intercity HSR between Dallas <--> Houston and/or Dallas/Houston <--> Austin <--> San Antonio? Perhaps even Dallas <--> El Paso? I could see such service being rather useful to tourists that want to go between these cities. But, of course, tourism alone would not justify the expense of building it.

Thoughts?

 

[Devil's Advocate]

HOU-DAL-AUS-SAT is the golden triangle of intrastate TX travel. El Paso's metro is too small and too remote to justify the expense of including it unless it was part of a much larger interstate system. If implemented correctly (conveniently located, efficiently routed, appropriately scheduled, and highly connected) such a service could probably do extremely well. Unfortunately, such a service will have to be built and operated under a state government and at the behest of rural fiefdoms that are openly hostile to passenger rail, public transportation, and anything else that might be viewed as helpful or supportive of urban lifestyles.

https://www.texastribune.org/2019/04/03/texas-high-speed-rail-developer-says-senate-budget-could-delay-project/

 

[MARC Rider]

Of course it would be a good candidate for HSR, or at least "fast frequent" corridor service. I've driven I-35 many times between Dallas/Ft. Worth and San Antonio, and the traffic is pretty similar to that of I-95 in the Northeast. The main difference is that there aren't large intermediate cities to enrich the ridership. Between New York and Washington you have Newark, Philadelphia and Baltimore. Between Dallas and San Antonio you have Austin, and then smaller places like Waco and Temple. The average trip ride length in the Northeast Corridor is 164 miles (Rail Passengers Association). 30% of trips are less than 100 miles and 40% of trips are 200-300 miles. A Dallas-San Antonio corridor would have to find ways to increase the ridership of the 200-300 mile trips to make up the presumable smaller number of less than 100 mile trips (due to the fact that intermediate stops serve smaller markets than in the northeast). There also isn't the same network of commuter rail that they have in the northeast to feed suburban passengers to the main stations.

 

[MARC Rider]

HOU-DAL-AUS-SAT is the golden triangle of intrastate TX travel. El Paso's metro is too small and too remote to justify the expense of including it unless it was part of a much larger interstate system. If implemented correctly (conveniently located, efficiently routed, appropriately scheduled, and highly connected) such a service could probably do extremely well. Unfortunately, such a service will have to be built and operated under a state government and at the behest of rural fiefdoms that are openly hostile to passenger rail, public transportation, and anything else that might be viewed as helpful or supportive of urban lifestyles.

https://www.texastribune.org/2019/04/03/texas-high-speed-rail-developer-says-senate-budget-could-delay-project/

So when are the urban Texans going to become numerous enough to start outvoting the rural Texans?

 

[Devil's Advocate]

So when are the urban Texans going to become numerous enough to start outvoting the rural Texans?

Thanks to absurd levels of partisan gerrymandering, increasingly restrictive qualification and identification requirements, a growing push to shrink active voting windows, and selective voter purging I doubt we'll see a genuinely pro-urban state government in my lifetime.

 

[Bob Dylan]

So when are the urban Texans going to become numerous enough to start outvoting the rural Texans?

Chris already answered re Gerrymandering by the T-Publicans here in Texas. We haven't elected a Statewide Democrat since 1994 inspite of the Demos winning more Votes in the US House Races, the 'Pubs still have a lopsided Majority in our Delegation and two "Empty Suit" Senators.

90% of the Texas Population lives within 150 Miles of I-35 and in the 2018 Election the Dems made huge gains in Local,State and Federal Races including firing two long term GOWMP US Reps.

See "Betto"!

 

[grover5995]

Could Texas be a good candidate for some Intercity HSR between Dallas <--> Houston and/or Dallas/Houston <--> Austin <--> San Antonio? Perhaps even Dallas <--> El Paso? I could see such service being rather useful to tourists that want to go between these cities. But, of course, tourism alone would not justify the expense of building it.

Thoughts?

There is a privately-funded proposal by TX Central Railroad to build HSR between Dallas-Houston using Japanese trainsets and choosing Renfe as the operator. Route would follow existing electric powerlines for much of the way with one stop at College Station and speeds over 200mph. Trains will likely be running within 5 years with strong support from the business community.