So, you just threw safety and comfort down the drain? Not to mention extra time to/from the airport and security? Really, planes don't work for such short trips, Greyhound (NOT Megabus) is the carrier that rules ID-45. So trains got room in the market if they would operate.
Now THAT is what we need! It's a bit too slow for SAS-HOU though, but DAL-Valley Junction could use some upgrades. Intregated excellence!
Clearly they do, when the companies are making money and have high frequencies. whether or not they would remain competitive if other options existed or not, they are currently attracting paying passengers, and that's what matters.
The Texas Triangle was an overnight mail train and was very slow. It had through sleepers Houston to Fort Worth and San Antonio. The train was discontinued in the 1940's. Much of the route has been abandoned in favor of other more direct routings. You could get from San Antonio to Dallas by going through Valley Jct and Hearne but it would take around 6 to 7 hours, little difference from the current Eagle. Houston to Dallas on the UP(T&NO) would not route through Valley Jct, but would continue straight north from Bryan on the former T&NO route to Hearne. The route from Bryan through Valley Jct. then over to Hearne is the former MP route and would be longer and slower. There are many routes available in Texas between various end points, but just how many of these do you want to spend the money on to bring them up to passenger train standards? As hard as it is just to maintain what little we have and even harder to start up any kind of corridor service, you have to concentrate your efforts on the most direct and useful routes.
I would strongly suspect that by the time you got the line up to 79 mph, you would probably be 90% of the way to what it would take to have a 110 mph limit.
Well, I don't ever fly such short distances and I think it is foolish to do so. If they wanna do it then they can give their money to the airlines.
Maybe that isn't such a good choice after all.
DAL-HOU is only 250 miles, very similar to NYP-WAS. I don't see the big problem here. If Greyhound can make loads of money on this route, Amtrak should jump in the fray. If we have to fight WN, we'll at least try our best.
Like I said before. UP uses these lines directionally. The Hempstead line is north bound only. The Spring line may be bi-directional. I have no idea. But the big UP yard is in Spring. The line out through Hempstead is used only for traffic relief and junk trains. And I think it was sold to Metro long ago, but UP still uses it.
But why was the Hempstead line chosen over the Spring line for the Texas Eagle from 1988-1995, especially considering that the Spring line was in better shape? How fast did the Eagle travel from Navasota to Houston anyway, 40? 60?
Probably, because at that time the SP controlled the Hempstead line and the MoPac controlled the Spring line and Amtrak was dealing with the SP. Both lines converge at Navasota and MoPac had trackage rights to Bryan/College Station after which they went back to their own line via Valley Jct. The SP want directly to Hearne and on to Dallas. Now of course UP controls all this so traffic patterns have changed dramatically. I think UP runs most traffic via Valley Jct. I believe the Bryan to Hearne SP line is little used. This would of course throw another monkey wrench into any plans to run passenger trains on the line. Amtrak might have to buy the Bryan to Hearne segment. The Eagle's speed was probably 60-70mph. I actually rode it on a trip to St Louis. The track was in decent shape at that time. Best option for Houston to Dallas service is still the BNSF line. With Houston's expansion to the north you could add a suburban stop in Tomball. You could run a bus feeder from College Station and Huntsville to N. Zulch. And you could add stops at Corsicana and Waxahachie for suburban Dallas. I have looked at this line and it is in good shape. It would just need sprucing up for passenger trains and some grade crossing eliminations in the Houston and Dallas area's. It's not that busy as BNSF has other lines that carry the heavy traffic. It would be a bargain basement start up compared to most.
The BNSF line is rated 60 for pax and 40 for freight...doesn't seem to be in very good shape, whereas the UP route is 79 for pax for the most part, except Navasota - Hempstead - Houston is 45 for pax and 40 for freight. This is why I am asking about Navasota - Spring - Houston. That line seems to support much faster speeds. The UP line is about 15 miles longer than the BNSF line, but seems like it already can support sustained passenger speeds. In addition, it serves College Station/Texas A&M directly. I would believe that these were the reasons why Amtrak chose the UP route instead of the BNSF route for the Texas Eagle to begin with.
I obtained the speeds from the TXDOT high-speed rail study- http://www.scribd.com/doc/71621990/TxDOT-Overview-of-Houston-To-Dallas-High-Speed-Rail. It has an overview of current alignments.
You are correct in that the reason Amtrak chose the SP line was to serve College Station as it provided substantial patronage. CS even built a special shelter for the train. Going back in history though, the reason for all this in the first place was because Amtrak discontinued the Lone Star which had served Houston for decades as the Texas Chief before Amtrak(Hou-Ft Worth-OKC-KC-Chi). It was a very popular train. So first they gave Houston a connection to the Eagle(which was then called the Inter-American) at Temple using the Lone Star route between Houston and Temple. This didn't work out, so then they dreamed up the Dallas connection. It lasted a few years then they dropped it. Now we have a bus that connects Houston to the Eagle at Longview. Meanwhile, the Heartland Flyer is using the route of the Texas Chief/Lone Star between Fort Worth and OKC. I rode the Eagle 'bus' last December between Houston and Longview. We had maybe a dozen people on board. It will be along time before this becomes a train again. When the MoPac ran the Eagles there were three sections, DFW, SAS and Houston. They combined at Palestine and Longview. Now one train does it all, but it takes much longer to make the run and Houston gets a bus. As for Houston-Dallas service..........don't hold your breath. lol.
The best way to get to Galveston is to rent a car as even Greyhound no longer goes there. The Lone Star bus requires 24hrs notice to pick up or deliver you there and it only connects with the eastbound train at noon.
That caught my eye - my daughter goes to school at Stephen F Austin State U in Nacogdoches, and I'd love for her to have a way to come visit without driving (even though the drive is just 3 hours). But there isn't a bus to catch the 8:28am westbound Texas Eagle... just one for the 6:15pm eastbound.
