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Recently in another thread, I mentioned that I've taken Amtrak's Sunset Limited a few times. Some people have asked me what it's like, so I thought I'd post a few of my on-board pictures here. The pictures are mostly out the window, and of the food, because that's where my mind is when I travel. Houston to New Orleans: Las Vegas -> Los Angeles Los Angeles -> Houston Los Angeles to Houston:

Fort Bend County, an area of over 800,000 residents, currently has absolutely abysmal public transportation. They have no connections to METRO transit centers or park and rides such as at Grand Parkway, Mission Bend, West Bellfort or Missouri City, no fixed route local service in the Sugar Land/Missouri City/Stafford area, nor in the rest of the county besides three unintelligibly convoluted, unusably infrequent "Fixed Deviation" routes in the Richmond/Rosenberg that only run on weekdays. The Park and Ride service leaves anything to be desired, with poor frequency, no midday or later evening service, a short departure window, very few actual park and rides, and services running to some random place in Greenway and the VA Hospital, not at all connecting with proper METRO services. Perhaps worst of all is their "Demand Response" service. Call them at least a day in advance from when you want to go, and you'll be sent to a call center in India to place a reservation for a bus, Which may or may not show up at your house at the scheduled time to take you to your destination, Which cannot be outside of a specific area, cannot be used to transfer to METRO, and can be no earlier than 8AM, No later than 5PM, Monday-Friday Only. Transit in Fort Bend in it's current form is unacceptable, and would not be adequate for a county of 8,000, let alone one a rapidly growing county of 800,000 in one of the largest metropolitan areas in America. As METRO focuses on expanding it's current transit network, Fort Bend desperately needs to focus on having some sort of usable transit at all, that is able to connect with METRO, otherwise, traffic will only continue to grow worse in Fort Bend County, and the entire Houston region as a result.

I figured to have a new place to talk about the station to relieve the Texas Triangle thread, I'd ask where people would like to see the station end up. I added a few more options than just NW mall and downtown.

The goal of this thread is collect and house everyone's recommendations, tweaks, alternations, alternatives, etc... that they would like to see to Metro Next. The current draft which was exhibited this past summer is below: http://ridemetro.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=5&clip_id=1651 Metro's call for further input on the draft prior to an upcoming referendum in 2019: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2018/11/23/312741/metro-moves-to-the-next-phase-in-developing-a-regional-transit-plan/ Whether planned or in response to the recent political shift (or both). The winds are changing and with that is a chance to broaden and enrich Metro's vision for their overall goals (2040 vision) and what could be achievable in the upcoming referendum (2019 referendum vision). I'm curious what the community here thinks is possible. This is without thinking about budgets or costs since we don't know what that could be. Assume for right now you can get what you want (within logical reason of course). What are your ideas or proposals? Light rail? regional rail? BRT? Links to HSR? Connections to Airports? Do you have an idea for an entire system and how it would work or do you just have idea for a small portion? Is this for the upcoming referendum or for what you want in Houston by 2040? Its open forum. Lets try to not stomp on any ideas. Later, if this is a successful thread we can have a thread where we get more critical. I'm partly doing this to get more engagement on this forum, tbh, lately its felt a bit stagnant (with the disappearance of the reaction buttons, etc...).

Just read a write up of a mass transit idea some one in Boston came up with. It's an elevated train, but the track is much less physically imposing than typical (Chicago "L") style. The supports almost look like the decorative arches in Uptown. The guy's goal would be to replace all trains AND buses with this - basically any major road would have one of these lines over it. It could be partially funded by selling bus depots, transit centers, etc. He's quite vague on pricing though, and it is just a rough concept. Wired article: http://www.wired.com/2016/01/far-fetched-plan-for-mass-transit-is-intriguing-at-least/#slide-1 Design firm's website: http://jacob-innovations.com/cTrain.html

HAIF transit enthusiasts, I bring to you this morning the most awesome thing ever! I give you the TRAVIC - Transit Visualization Client! http://tracker.geops.ch/ You can pretty much go to most cities and countries and just watch the movement of transit in a very slick visualization format. If it sees very slow thats because its actually working on realtime. The best way to really visualize it though is to speed it up x15 or x30. What is jarring is when you compare a city like New York, London, Paris, etc.... with transit in Houston and just how different and quite frankly dead it is. Whats even cooler is that its not just a fancy visual. You can click on any of the moving dots and it will show you the stops on the line itself and where it is heading.

All in favor of changing our lightrail cars to these....say I !!! http://imgur.com/a/kNnzB Seriously these are freakin awesome lol.

Just got this press release. East and Southeast Tracks Tested with Trains This giant diesel-powered tow truck can operate on tracks, or on pavement. It is used when electrical current is not available to power a train. METRORail’s new East End (Green) Line tracks have been undergoing tests performed while dragging a light-rail vehicle up and down the track with a diesel-powered-shuttle. The test covers 2.3 miles of the 3.3 mile tracks. Crews are also performing live wire testing. The Southeast Line is also expecting visits from the train and its crews beginning Wednesday, Feb. 5. The train will be towed by the big, red shuttle wagon from an area near EaDo/Stadium Station (Texas at Bastrop in front of the BBVA Compass Stadium), to the Palm Center Transit Center to inspect curb height and other elements such as sign placement. The light-rail vehicle is transported much like a barge being led by a pilot boat, since electric power remains to be activated on these two evolving lines. Large sections of Styrofoam are often attached to provide a buffer in tight corners and places where obstructions are observed. Measurements are then taken and corrective action initiated. Public safety, particularly at intersections, is a top concern. Trains are being towed with assistance from METRO Police, and drivers and pedestrians are urged to take extra precaution in the area. The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) is wrapping up major light-rail expansion - adding 15.3 miles and 24 stations to its existing Main Street (Red) Line. The North (Red) extension opened in December 2013, and the East End (Green) and Southeast (Purple) lines will start service later this year. About the East End (Green) Line The 3.3-mile East End Line (Green Line) travels along Harrisburg through the historic East End to a variety of downtown entertainment and business destinations. Track that is closest to downtown will be shared with the Southeast (Purple) Line. From EaDo/Stadium station, passengers will be able to transfer to the Southeast Line and travel to the UH Central campus and Texas Southern University as well as Palm Center Transit Center. East End Line riders may board at Central Station Main for travel up or down the Main Street (Red) Line. About the Southeast (Purple) Line The Southeast Line (Purple Line) begins downtown and travels southeast along Capitol and Rusk to the Palm Center near MLK and Griggs. The 6.6- mile line travels through one of Houston's oldest African-American communities and connects to Texas Southern University and the University of Houston. The last portion of the track, shared with the East End Line (Green Line), will enable riders to transfer at the EaDo/Stadium station to travel through the historic East End. Riders can also continue to Central Station Main to transfer to the Red Line for travel up or down Main Street.

So while looking through Historic Aerials, I stumbled upon an oddity just past I-10...an abandoned railroad ROW paralleling the interstate. The railroad was recently stripped, and there were even railroad crossing markings were visible on Gessner. ("http://www.historicaerials.com/?poi=3770") An atlas I have identifies it as the Missouri Kansas Texas. Unfortunately, Google Maps, while often displaying abandoned railroad lines, it doesn't show up with this one. Now here's where things get funky. Google stops identifying it as a railroad here but the line ends at Katy Fort Bend Road. Following the line, it reappears near Hempstead Rd. and I-610, but turns into a yard and vanishes. Note the abandoned bridge. After passing through a few parks, it dips below 10 and becomes "Spring Street". After that, it's a bit confusing..I can't follow it, because other railroads come in and screw my sense of direction up (and the map is kind of hard to read). Can anyone describe/know more information?