Report: 14 billion dollar deal for Bullet train from Houston to Dallas is done

[Poolflood 845]

5 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

The amount of people that could live in central Texas but work in Houston or Dallas already makes this worthwhile 

Trains makes way too much sense. They cut down emissions. They save you money. They save you time. They are more dependable. They lessen population density. 

Greenspoint and people like him can live in 1992 

Centerville/Central Texas.... I see where you're going..... My suggestion is you/users pay for it.  Not the rest of the state that will see no benefit.

[Texas Jeff 1944]

Seriously, why would a private investor go for this?  Southwest Airlines has a market cap of around $30 billion today.  Before 2016, Southwest was worth much less than that.

What is the pitch?  You invest $14 billion which probably becomes $28 billion once you start building the thing and you end up with a route that serves two locations that are also served by Megabus ($15 a ride), Southwest ($120 a ride if you plan a bit ahead) and your own car.

[Neonmoon 38129]

1 hour ago, Poolflood said:

Centerville/Central Texas.... I see where you're going..... My suggestion is you/users pay for it.  Not the rest of the state that will see no benefit.

I’m all for the users paying for it. In this instance I think they are. 

At the same time, I’m for mass rail and everyone paying for it, including you. To say only central Texans only pay for it is naive. What if I said that west Texans only pay for roads in West Texas, and they’re not allowed to use roads outside West Texas? Sometimes we do things that benefit the common good, which include funding roads to west Texas that 2 people use per year 

[atomheartbevo 89623]

17 hours ago, GreenspointTexas said:

So fucking dumb. Its less than 3.5 hrs from downtown houston to downtown dallas

dont need no damn rail. We need a rail from austin to new orleans or houston to alpine

I drove from Austin to Alpine 2-3 times a year for almost 10 years, and Houston to Alpine a few times in there, and there ain't no fucking way we need high speed rail out to Alpine, because I see more traffic from Austin to Dallas in one trip, than I did cumulatively from Fort Stockton to Alpine over 10 years.

And there is already rail through Alpine - we did that trip once, and it took a ridiculously long time, although the scenery was nice.

[atomheartbevo 89623]

18 hours ago, Crusher said:

$20 billion. Proper people will get their beaks wet of course but we will end up with a real choo choo train.This is Texas not California after all.

Perry couldn't even get a scaled-down Trans-Texas Corridor between Mexico and Oklahoma, not sure why it's a given we'll get this through.  And Perry had some massive companies backing him, companies that bought or subsidized local newspapers to help their cause.   It was insane what some of those companies were doing when they were trying to dum up support,

[Poolflood 845]

17 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

I’m all for the users paying for it. In this instance I think they are. 

At the same time, I’m for mass rail and everyone paying for it, including you. To say only central Texans only pay for it is naive. What if I said that west Texans only pay for roads in West Texas, and they’re not allowed to use roads outside West Texas? Sometimes we do things that benefit the common good, which include funding roads to west Texas that 2 people use per year 

I was going to respond seriously.  Then realized nobody is as stupid as this post.  Well played Neon!

Edited September 14, 2019 by Poolflood

[Iceman 2690]

26 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

I’m all for the users paying for it. In this instance I think they are. 

At the same time, I’m for mass rail and everyone paying for it, including you. To say only central Texans only pay for it is naive. What if I said that west Texans only pay for roads in West Texas, and they’re not allowed to use roads outside West Texas? Sometimes we do things that benefit the common good, which include funding roads to west Texas that 2 people use per year 

It's not a real initiative until you can make someone else pay for your shit.

[Neonmoon 38129]

18 minutes ago, Poolflood said:

I was going to respond seriously.  Then realized nobody is as stupid as this post.  Well played Neon!

I’m glad you went with the snarky insult. Really elevated the conversation. Kudos. 

[RDCanecutter 26378]

Houston to Dallas? blah.

Give me Houston to Havana via the chain of artificial Texan islands in the Gulf. What, you haven't got a plan for a chain of artifical Texan islands in the Gulf? ARE YOU ASLEEP? The Chinaman will build them for Mississippi if you don't wake up.

[atomheartbevo 89623]

8 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

The amount of people that could live in central Texas but work in Houston or Dallas already makes this worthwhile 

When you look at New England, you'd be surprised (well maybe not you), but a lot of people would be surprised at people who live in one city, or even state, and work in another city or state, and commute by rail.

Hell, there are plenty of people who live in Austin or San Antonio, and commute to the other.  And I have plenty of friends in the Houston area who have 45-minute commutes (or longer).  Put them on a comfortable train with wifi, and plenty would reconsider rail.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if there was a decent high-speed rail between Austin and San Antonio.

[atomheartbevo 89623]

6 hours ago, UDontKnow said:

SIAP. Found this old article about the HST. The only depressing thing about this train is that it may have a stop close to College Station. Completely unnecessary in my expert, humble, and unbiased opinion: https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2018/11/30/10-things-to-know-about-the-japanese-bullet-train.html.

Didn't read the article, but a College Station stop is 100% about politics and getting the legislature on board.

[tantric superman 4667]

[elfenix 34223]

On 9/13/2019 at 6:16 PM, Crusher said:

If you fuel up before you hit I-45 and don't have a car full of kids, preggos or prostate impinged bladders you can do it in that amount of time. 3 to 3.5 hrs if you get out of Houston before or after heavy traffic hrs. Left hand lane and cruise on 75-80 mph.

fuck you left lane camper.

[ImissWallyPryor 9046]

On 9/13/2019 at 9:31 PM, Steel Shank said:

I imagine there will be land owners getting fucked over, too.

[elfenix 34223]

6 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Didn't read the article, but a College Station stop is 100% about politics and getting the legislature on board.

they incorrectly thought a bunch of slorch iceman types in north BFE, texas, were against it because it didn't have a stop for them.

[Iceman 2690]

Lolz.  Your assessment is correct.  They grossly overestimated any sentiment supporting their ass.

Is the train going to deliver dogfood or some shit?  Who the fuck cares if BCS gets left out?

If it ever gets done, the focal points will be the 3 major metros in Texas;  not some wannabe, mustard dick, sheep chasers wearing their daddy's overalls.

 

If aggy wants support from West Texas, they could start be ending their supercunt campaign against Tech's efforts with the Vet school.  We already hate their fucking asses.  It's never been worse than now.  Aggy can die in a (bon)fire.

Edited September 15, 2019 by Iceman

[Nice Guy Eddie 13508]

15 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

When you look at New England, you'd be surprised (well maybe not you), but a lot of people would be surprised at people who live in one city, or even state, and work in another city or state, and commute by rail.

Hell, there are plenty of people who live in Austin or San Antonio, and commute to the other.  And I have plenty of friends in the Houston area who have 45-minute commutes (or longer).  Put them on a comfortable train with wifi, and plenty would reconsider rail.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if there was a decent high-speed rail between Austin and San Antonio.

A high speed rail line could eventually change peoples living and working decisions.  If you had a job in Dallas that required you be there once a week or so, you could decide living in the Heights in Houston was perfect.

I don’t get the complaints about “even when you get to Dallas, you don’t have a car and are stuck with Uber.”  On business trips, I prefer taking Uber or a cab over renting a car. I don’t want the hassle of parking.     And the rail line isn’t worried about attracting the family of five from Spring that want to visit Cousin Edith in Frisco for the 48 hour weekend trip. That family is taking the minivan. High speed rail is going after people that normally fly. 

initially high speed rail will be about business or personal travelers and where time is more important than money. Probably similar to earlier days of commercial air. If we still had the days of rolling up to Love or Hobby and going from your car to sitting on the plane in 10 minutes (which was very realistic) high speed rail wouldn’t be necessary.

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3868]

On 9/14/2019 at 10:05 AM, 6th Street said:

That's 3 hours of lost productivity where you could be working, doing email, conference calls, etc. The amount of time saved and productivity gained for business travel is well worth it. 

If it happens, it will end up with a clientele of business people for this reason.  

[FondrenRoad 4378]

13 minutes ago, ShaggyBevo RIP said:

If it happens, it will end up with a clientele of business people for this reason.  

That's pretty much 90% of the clientele for high speed rail everywhere it exists. 

[atomheartbevo 89623]

1 hour ago, ShaggyBevo RIP said:

If it happens, it will end up with a clientele of business people for this reason.  

On the weekends, it'll have sports fans and tourists.  I don't supposes these trains will be serving alkyhol and licker though.

[SwanderedTalent 5761]

I'll support it if, and only if, it bypasses Bryan-College Station entirely. 

Hell, Aggies are so proud of how close Houston and B-CS are, surely they'd be the first to tell you they don't need a discrete stop near their actual campus. It's one big metroplex!

[Pasken 1309]

On 9/14/2019 at 12:57 AM, The People’s Elbow said:

Austin being the only notable city on your maps reliant on a transfer to get passengers into the urban core is a disappointingly bad look IMO.

It also makes total sense for Austin, which couldn’t responsibly grow if it had a time machine and unlimited funds. 

It's because It's ROW that the state already owns and they bought it initially to have high speed rail as a part of Rick Perry's corridor plan that everyone hated. That plan eventually became 130 but they still are eyeing it for future high speed rail. 

 

It's actually not too bad if it would intersect with Cap Metro's new Blue/Orange Line at the airport. That means from Riverside, downtown, UT, North Guad/Lamar would be 1 train/BRT from the connecting regional station at the airport which is not unlike a lot of rail in other cities. 

 

I added the crazy green line to show where the high speed rail would go. 

 

 

 

 

[clapclapclap 9000]

35 minutes ago, Pasken said:

High speed tapeworm?

Edited September 15, 2019 by clapclapclap

[atomheartbevo 89623]

1 hour ago, Pasken said:

That plan eventually became 130 but they still are eyeing it for future high speed rail. 

Yeah, there are still plans for running a lot of freight/rail/etc. up from Mexico (cheaper to offload in Mexico to rail and push it through Texas up north, than go through the Canal and then to Houston/etc.).

[futureman 22441]

On 9/13/2019 at 7:27 PM, Neonmoon said:

So to be clear, you are for public roads but against public trains?

everyone here is for public trains on your mom. 

[GreenspointTexas 9598]

Just curious, how many people do yall think would use a Houston/Dallas rail on a daily basis? 500? 1000?

 

if so, isnt that only like 2-3 trains a day?

[atomheartbevo 89623]

32 minutes ago, GreenspointTexas said:

Just curious, how many people do yall think would use a Houston/Dallas rail on a daily basis? 500? 1000?

if so, isnt that only like 2-3 trains a day?

If it was truly 90 minutes, and if you could park and be on the train quickly without a bunch of security and luggage bullshit, and the price is reasonable (at least compared to flying)?  A shitload.  Weekends would be packed when the NFL is playing.  Hell, plenty of MLB and NBA fans as well.  Businesses would use the hell out of it.   Galveston should beg for a regular train to just run from the Houston stop to Galveston as well, to pull in the North Texas crowd.

There really is a lot of potential.  People like them in Europe, Japan, and even our slower trains in New England.

But it's Texas, and there's too many people/businesses that would be threatened, so we will fuck this up completely.

[futureman 22441]

has a train ever derailed at 200+ mph?  wonder what that’s like. 

[Johnny Sack 8397]

6 hours ago, ShaggyBevo RIP said:

If it happens, it will end up with a clientele of business people for this reason.  

What about when self driving cars come online?  It will happen long before high speed rail.  And be cheaper, more comfortable and the time will be close when you factor in everything 

[Johnny Sack 8397]

25 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

If it was truly 90 minutes, and if you could park and be on the train quickly without a bunch of security and luggage bullshit, and the price is reasonable (at least compared to flying)?  A shitload.  Weekends would be packed when the NFL is playing.  Hell, plenty of MLB and NBA fans as well.  Businesses would use the hell out of it.   Galveston should beg for a regular train to just run from the Houston stop to Galveston as well, to pull in the North Texas crowd.

There really is a lot of potential.  People like them in Europe, Japan, and even our slower trains in New England.

But it's Texas, and there's too many people/businesses that would be threatened, so we will fuck this up completely.

Yes.  We Texas people suck. We should emulate California and how they’ve done high speed rail.  It’s fucking great.  

[Pasken 1309]

26 minutes ago, futureman said:

has a train ever derailed at 200+ mph?  wonder what that’s like. 

What the fuck is wrong with you?

[Nice Guy Eddie 13508]

The Japanese claim there have been zero passenger fatalities with this line of bullet trains to be used by the Texas rail.  5.3 billion passengers in 50 years.  No deaths.

[futureman 22441]

22 minutes ago, Pasken said:

What the fuck is wrong with you?

can you imagine the inertia of a passenger train traveling 200 mph?   if that thing were to derail, oh mama, chaos on an epic scale. 

[atomheartbevo 89623]

1 hour ago, Johnny Sack said:

Yes.  We Texas people suck. We should emulate California and how they’ve done high speed rail.  It’s fucking great.  

Who gives a fuck about California and how they do things?  That fucking state stole a Heisman from us, and those fuckers at UCLA let us down last night.

Oh wait, Texas politicians can fuck this up as badly as California politicians.  Okay, there's that.

At least we don't have that fucking idiot aggy Perry in office, with his 4,000-mile long, 1,200 foot wide corridor dreams.

[Bigbend1812 12915]

34 minutes ago, futureman said:

can you imagine the inertia of a passenger train traveling 200 mph?   if that thing were to derail, oh mama, chaos on an epic scale. 

[CooterBrown 18002]

What about when self driving cars come online?  It will happen long before high speed rail.  And be cheaper, more comfortable and the time will be close when you factor in everything 

I’ve always thought there’d be a completely redesigned car interior for commuters with a laptop desk and a much better seat that is purpose built for working on the commute. Also, one built for fucking because you know Uber Brothel will be a thing.

[atomheartbevo 89623]

We are Texas.  We should have been able to do this years ago.  Technically and financially, there's no reason we shouldn't pull this off - hell, you can find newspaper articles and editorials going back decades about wanting to hook up Dallas, Houston, and Austin/SA with high-speed rail.  The plebes want this.  Plenty of businesses want this.  Plenty of rich people (and not just professional sports team owners) want this. Hell, Amazon.com would probably like to have a little cargo space for high-value items on each trip.

The problem is, we are Texas.  

• We will have plenty of environmentalists stirring up all kinds of shit and fighting this every bit of the way.  Doesn't matter if it takes a bunch of cars off the road or anything, they will fight any kind of development.
• We have plenty of idiots who think we shouldn't use fancy new technology if those godless Europeans and Asians are using it. (Those fuckers need to try a heated Japanese toilet with a built-in ass cleaner and Bluetooth-controlled colon stimulator, they'd change their tune on all things Japanese in a hurry).
• We will have plenty of businesses from mom-and-pop convenience stores to the bus lines,  airliners and airport services bitching to state reps in the legislature that this is taken their God-given profits away from them, and those local reps will fight this for those businesses, because unfortunately, in the legislature, we have some podunk districts in that part of the state where the state reps will have to do as Lou and Irma say, because Lou and Irma's gas station isn't as profitable as they'd like it to be, or Lou and Irma will tell every local that comes through that their state rep is light in the loafers or something.
• We will have plenty of companies that will want a piece of things, whether it be construction or services, or who knows what.  They will fight unless they get a share.  And they will have their own leverage within state politics.
• Oh, and if aggy doesn't get a nearby station, they will probably fight this as well.   Or they will fight to be a part of building it, and then we'll get a very expensive lesson in aggy engineering.  We will have to ban anybody on the train from playing "Sandstorm".
• And plenty of others will oppose this for unseen financial motivations, or just out of sheer assholery.

Edited September 16, 2019 by atomheartbevo

[Iceman 2690]

Lolz at the convenience of travelling for entertainment. sporting "needs" being for the "common good."

 

No motherfuckers...it's just about you.

 

and virtually nobody is worried about commuting to a possible job in the Galleria in H-town or PLano from rural areas in central texas.

 

This is a Eurodreamer's wetdream.

[Pasken 1309]

3 hours ago, GreenspointTexas said:

Just curious, how many people do yall think would use a Houston/Dallas rail on a daily basis? 500? 1000?

 

if so, isnt that only like 2-3 trains a day?

The 8 car configuration they want to use would hold 546 people so I would think they expect more than 1000 a day. 

[elfenix 34223]

3 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

What about when self driving cars come online?  It will happen long before high speed rail.  And be cheaper, more comfortable and the time will be close when you factor in everything 

a friend of mine is in robotics and AI for nasa.  goes to multiple conferences each summer. knows way more about this than us lawyers or the media.   per him, self driving cars that work when you really need them to (shitty conditions) are much further off than this train is. 

3 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

Yes.  We Texas people suck. We should emulate California and how they’ve done high speed rail.  It’s fucking great.  

we're not doing this the way california is, and you know it.  so why discuss like we are?

 

1 hour ago, Iceman said:

Lolz at the convenience of travelling for entertainment. sporting "needs" being for the "common good."

 

No motherfuckers...it's just about you.

 

and virtually nobody is worried about commuting to a possible job in the Galleria in H-town or PLano from rural areas in central texas.

 

This is a Eurodreamer's wetdream.

this random post of bullshit brought to you by texas tech

Edited September 16, 2019 by elfenix

[Iceman 2690]

so you've got nothing to retort.

 

convenience for sports enthusiasts is your selling point??  for me to pay more taxes?

 

Lolz.  Fuck off.  You pay for it.  Bitch.

 

 

Edited September 16, 2019 by Iceman

[elfenix 34223]

so you've got nothing to retort.
 
convenience for sports enthusiasts is your selling point??  for me to pay more taxes?
 
Lolz.  Fuck off.  You pay for it.  Bitch.
 
 

This isn't tax supported you barely literate curmudgeon.

[futureman 22441]

36 minutes ago, Iceman said:

Fuck off.  You pay for it.  Bitch.

[Trey3216 15343]

4 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

Yes.  We Texas people suck. We should emulate California and how they’ve done high speed rail.  It’s fucking great.  

You are way over complicating this 

[Iceman 2690]

4 hours ago, elfenix said:

4 hours ago, Iceman said:

so you've got nothing to retort.
 
convenience for sports enthusiasts is your selling point??  for me to pay more taxes?
 
Lolz.  Fuck off.  You pay for it.  Bitch.
 
 

This isn't tax supported you barely literate curmudgeon.

I don’t believe you...lolz.

 

if it ends up not costing taxpayers anything it will be a miracle of no small magnitude.

Carry on.

[Lhorn 4909]

Is there a chance the track could bend?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

18 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

On the weekends, it'll have sports fans and tourists.  I don't supposes these trains will be serving alkyhol and licker though.

Why not? I am pretty sure they will. You get booze on planes and I am pretty sure Vonlane sells it on their buses. Euros drink on trains: they either buy it on there on bring their own. This is not 1985 anymore. Booze seems to be everywhere now compared to back then.

[Cajun 11705]

On 9/14/2019 at 4:30 PM, atomheartbevo said:

I drove from Austin to Alpine 2-3 times a year for almost 10 years, and Houston to Alpine a few times in there, and there ain't no fucking way we need high speed rail out to Alpine, because I see more traffic from Austin to Dallas in one trip, than I did cumulatively from Fort Stockton to Alpine over 10 years.

And there is already rail through Alpine - we did that trip once, and it took a ridiculously long time, although the scenery was nice.

Just lightin' out for the territories?

Buddy, I've been there...

[Cajun 11705]

13 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

What about when self driving cars come online?  It will happen long before high speed rail.  And be cheaper, more comfortable and the time will be close when you factor in everything 

Self driving cars allowed to operate freely, en masse on Texas roads will not happen before HSR.

We are a long fucking way off from that.

Stop reading the hype.

Edited September 16, 2019 by Cajun

[next2naus 437]

On 9/13/2019 at 5:43 PM, UDontKnow said:

Ah true. Railway systems are a historical target for terrorist attacks on the global scale.

Have you ever been on Amtrak? Security is lax and even the Terrorists are scared to ride it

 

full disclamer: I have an Amtrak GuestRewards account and ride the rails