195 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

WFAA-TV, Channel 8 in Dallas, TX, 11/26/14:

Former Dallas mayor Kirk on board with high-speed rail

An ambitious plan to connect Dallas and Houston on what could be the first high-speed commuter rail line in the United States just gained some high-profile support.

Story here.

[Sloan]

 

 

Counties uniting in opposition to bullet train

Counties between Houston and Dallas that would be affected by the proposed bullet train are blowing their own horn in opposition.

Dec. 17, about eight counties joined in on a conference call to discuss the issue, as some shared what they are doing to fight it. Congressmen Kevin Brady’s and Bill Flores’, as well as State Senator Charles Schwertner’s offices also took part in it.

http://www.navasotae...cb70b5e1d0.html

[lunarwhite]

Here are three articles on high-speed (and higher-speed) rail in Texas from this week's Dallas Business Journal.
http://m.bizjournals...page=all&r=full
http://m.bizjournals...page=all&r=full
http://m.bizjournals...page=all&r=full

[lunarwhite]

Here is the Dallas Business Journal cover story on the Dallas-Houston High-Speed Rail. It is now unblocked. The embedded PDF map includes more comments.

http://m.bizjournals...16379551&r=full

[CNJRoss]

Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX, 1/27:
 

Editorial:

High-speed rail bandwagon?

 

It has to be a good thing that the company that operates the high-speed rail network in France is scoping out ideas for bullet trains in Texas.

 

The more viewpoints on this plan, the better the results would be.

 

SNIP

 

Is competition brewing? Maybe.

 

Read more here.

[KevinKorell]

WFAA-TV, Channel 8 in Dallas, TX, 1/26/15:

 

French involvement in Texas high-speed rail? Mais oui!

 

A company that operates France's national high-speed rail network is exploring possible involvement in Texas bullet trains.

 

"We're here to listen, learn and evaluate," Alain Leray, president and chief executive of SNCF America Inc., said Monday during a visit to downtown Fort Worth.

 

This is the story.

[CNJRoss]

Houston Chronicle "Gray Matters," 2/2:
 

Don't railroad our neighborhoods

High-speed rail shouldn't destroy thriving parts of town

 

High-speed rail (such as Japan's Shinkansen bullet train, shown here) requires right-of-ways 50 to 80 feet wide, and in urban areas, a platform 20 feet tall. That's fine along a freeway. But it would devastate neighborhoods. (Photo: OpenCage.info, edited by Lisa Gray. CC BY-SA license.)

 

A high-speed rail line linking Houston and Dallas sounds like a good idea. But as they say, the devil is in the details.

 

Texas Central Railroad, a recently-formed private company, is proposing to build such a link with funding obtained largely from Japanese banks, and has applied to the Federal Railroad Administration for permission to do so. The nine candidate routes examined so far have been winnowed down to two. Unfortunately, the last stretches of these routes run directly through Houston residential neighborhoods.

 

In order to fully appreciate what this means, consider that the Shinkansen bullet trains, with a top speed of 205 miles per hour, cannot run on conventional rails. Instead, the line is built as a closed, fenced-in system, on special tracks, which in urban areas are typically set on a platform some 20 feet high, with catenary-system superstructure adding another 20 feet or so of height. For bidirectional service, total right of way of 50 to 80 feet is required. Installation of this massive infrastructure would be devastating to a residential neighborhood.

 

Continue here.

[lunarwhite]

Dallas station sites down to two choices.

http://texascentral.com/station-page/

[KevinKorell]

A little dismaying that the site is not Union Station, but it does appear to be 1 or 2 light rail stops away.

[lunarwhite]

Here is a Dallas Morning News article about the station locations with some more details.

http://www.dallasnew...cedars-area.ece