Texas Central Project

[BigFootsSocks]

I wouldn't worry about it. Most likely there'll be plenty of not-stops to Dallas and a few that will stop in CS. I think I heard somewhere that they may try to run departures every 30 mins. That leaves plenty of room for non-stops as well as CS-stops.

Would it help if they shifted the alignment to go Houston, CS, Waco, Dallas?

There's a higher potential for revenue I'm CS than there is for Waco, which has Baylor and Dr.Pepper and that's about it...granted one of those is very important to the state of Texas and the rest of the established world, and the other is Baylor...

[IronTiger]

College Station is a better choice than Waco, because Waco's growth patterns aren't growing much, and while College Station-Bryan is a bustling 200k area with a massive university, a growing biomedical industry, and a lot of potential.

 

What this will mean is it will probably sprout some very upscale bedroom communities for those going to Houston.

[august948]

There's a higher potential for revenue I'm CS than there is for Waco, which has Baylor and Dr.Pepper and that's about it...granted one of those is very important to the state of Texas and the rest of the established world, and the other is Baylor...

 

Ouch.

 

[august948]

College Station is a better choice than Waco, because Waco's growth patterns aren't growing much, and while College Station-Bryan is a bustling 200k area with a massive university, a growing biomedical industry, and a lot of potential.

 

What this will mean is it will probably sprout some very upscale bedroom communities for those going to Houston.

 

Actually, I was suggesting it go through both CS and Waco.  Not sure if that's even feasible but it might save me some driving at least once a year.

 

[BigFootsSocks]

Ouch.

 

The truth hurts.  

[Houston19514]

There's a higher potential for revenue I'm CS than there is for Waco, which has Baylor and Dr.Pepper and that's about it...granted one of those is very important to the state of Texas and the rest of the established world, and the other is Baylor...

Dr. Pepper? What does Dr. Pepper have in Waco?

[Naviguessor]

Ya better google that one.

[BigFootsSocks]

Dr. Pepper? What does Dr. Pepper have in Waco?

I thought it started there or was bottled there?

[cloud713]

I wouldn't worry about it. Most likely there'll be plenty of not-stops to Dallas and a few that will stop in CS. I think I heard somewhere that they may try to run departures every 30 mins. That leaves plenty of room for non-stops as well as CS-stops.

Would it help if they shifted the alignment to go Houston, CS, Waco, Dallas?

Nah. Waco makes even less sense than CS. This isn't just about school pride or w/e.

The most of the demographic there can't afford a HSR ticket for a casual weekend getaway/day trip. The small percentage of rich people and the 15,000 Baylor students would be all that would use that stop I feel.

[august948]

Nah. Waco makes even less sense than CS. This isn't just about school pride or w/e.

The most of the demographic there can't afford a HSR ticket for a casual weekend getaway/day trip. The small percentage of rich people and the 15,000 Baylor students would be all that would use that stop I feel.

 

I don't really care about school pride that much, but it'd be cool to have a hsr destination I might actually use. 

 

You may be right on the demographics, though it might get a lot of play on weekends from Dallas students going home, but if you just head straight north to Dallas from CS you're just running through farm and ranch land.  By shifting over a bit to Waco we get a 90 mile head start on an eventual Dallas, Austin, San Antonio line.  That might be significant as a line to Waco is almost a third of the total distance between Dallas and SA.

 

[Sky-guy]

http://www.myfoxaustin.com/story/26406849/high-speed-rail-coming-to-texas

[BigFootsSocks]

I don't really care about school pride that much, but it'd be cool to have a hsr destination I might actually use. 

 

You may be right on the demographics, though it might get a lot of play on weekends from Dallas students going home, but if you just head straight north to Dallas from CS you're just running through farm and ranch land.  By shifting over a bit to Waco we get a 90 mile head start on an eventual Dallas, Austin, San Antonio line.  That might be significant as a line to Waco is almost a third of the total distance between Dallas and SA.

 

That's a lot of money to spend on a detour that almost certainly won't pay itself off. I doubt Waco has a high enough population to justify a separate rail station unlike CS which has a booming biomedical field that needs to work closely with the Texas Medical Center.

[august948]

That's a lot of money to spend on a detour that almost certainly won't pay itself off. I doubt Waco has a high enough population to justify a separate rail station unlike CS which has a booming biomedical field that needs to work closely with the Texas Medical Center.

 

If you look at a map, as the crow flies it's really not much of a detour if the train is already in CS.  Certainly a few extra miles would easily be justified by the 90 mile head start you could get on a line from DFW to San Antonio.  However, reading the report from the Star-Telegram, looks like the intended corridor is I45 so I have to wonder how far east of CS the line is actually going to run.

 

[BigFootsSocks]

If you look at a map, as the crow flies it's really not much of a detour if the train is already in CS. Certainly a few extra miles would easily be justified by the 90 mile head start you could get on a line from DFW to San Antonio. However, reading the report from the Star-Telegram, looks like the intended corridor is I45 so I have to wonder how far east of CS the line is actually going to run.

A few extra miles is definitely not justified when each mile of track will cost 6-7 million dollars. This would more than likely be a hundred million dollar detour that won't be justified by the very few tickets that it would sell. Waco is too small of a town.

[august948]

A few extra miles is definitely not justified when each mile of track will cost 6-7 million dollars. This would more than likely be a hundred million dollar detour that won't be justified by the very few tickets that it would sell. Waco is too small of a town.

 

I don't know where you got the 100 million figure from but, if we just go with that, 100M/6.5M (average of your per mile estimate) buys us just over 15 miles of extra track.  If they gain a 90 mile head start on a line from DFW to San Antonio by going through Waco that puts them ahead 75 miles or 487 million dollars.  Half a billion dollars can buy a lot of justification.

 

It's a moot point, though, as they have indicated the corridor will run up 45.

[BigFootsSocks]

It was a guess, but since we know each mile will cost 6-7 that sounds about right. They're not focused on other routes right now, just Dallas to Houston. It's a moot point for not only that but because there's no reason to stop in a small town like Waco. What does it have besides your personal preference?

[august948]

It was a guess, but since we know each mile will cost 6-7 that sounds about right. They're not focused on other routes right now, just Dallas to Houston. It's a moot point for not only that but because there's no reason to stop in a small town like Waco. What does it have besides your personal preference?

 

It doesn't have anything to do with my personal preferences,  If this thing is successful, and it looks promising at any rate, they will end up building a line from DFW to San Antonio.  That line will go through Waco.  Whether they put in a stop now or a stop later is no big deal.  It's all about where the rail line itself is going to run.  Why run it through the middle of the countryside where there truly are only small towns like Mexia and Corsicana when for a few extra miles of track you can get a 90 mile head start on a DFW to San Antonio line?

 

[Sparrow]

It doesn't have anything to do with my personal preferences,  If this thing is successful, and it looks promising at any rate, they will end up building a line from DFW to San Antonio.  That line will go through Waco.  Whether they put in a stop now or a stop later is no big deal.  It's all about where the rail line itself is going to run.  Why run it through the middle of the countryside where there truly are only small towns like Mexia and Corsicana when for a few extra miles of track you can get a 90 mile head start on a DFW to San Antonio line?

 

 

Maybe a future Dallas--SA line would skew the T to the East instead of West as the original Texas T-Bone plan laid out. Hang a right at US 79 as you head up 35. Make the "CS area" stop the junction instead of Temple.

 

Why run it through the middle of the countryside you ask? Because it's flat. Because it is the middle of the countryside--land is cheap. Because there will be fewer constituents to fight for either rerouting or demanding a local stop that doesn't make financial sense. 

 

[BigFootsSocks]

Maybe a future Dallas--SA line would skew the T to the East instead of West as the original Texas T-Bone plan laid out. Hang a right at US 79 as you head up 35. Make the "CS area" stop the junction instead of Temple.

 

Why run it through the middle of the countryside you ask? Because it's flat. Because it is the middle of the countryside--land is cheap. Because there will be fewer constituents to fight for either rerouting or demanding a local stop that doesn't make financial sense. 

 

Pretty much exactly what I was going to say. There's no guarantee that this will even be successful in the first place. Why would a private company invest in something they have no plans for (that we know of)? If they do decide to do a San Antonio route they would most likely route it through Houston rather than Dallas first.

[august948]

Maybe a future Dallas--SA line would skew the T to the East instead of West as the original Texas T-Bone plan laid out. Hang a right at US 79 as you head up 35. Make the "CS area" stop the junction instead of Temple.

 

Why run it through the middle of the countryside you ask? Because it's flat. Because it is the middle of the countryside--land is cheap. Because there will be fewer constituents to fight for either rerouting or demanding a local stop that doesn't make financial sense. 

 

 

An interesting idea.  As for running it through the middle of the countryside, the land is flat all along the eastern side of I35 as well.  As I understand it, the intention is to use existing right of ways anyway so there won't be much land purchasing involved.  Looking at the Osaka to Tokyo Shinkansen route, there are 17 stops including the end points.  Some of those are the size of Waco or smaller.  One is around 40k in pop.  It was routed along a populated corridor with a mixture of small and large towns and small cities.  That's more true of the I35 corridor than it is of the I45 corridor.  As for constituents demanding stops, etc. I suspect that is already happening and is naturally going to be part of a project like this.  Already politicians at the TTC and in DFW are involved.

 

[BigFootsSocks]

The whole point of this rail line is a non-stop service between the major cities. It would totally defeat the purpose to stop at every average size town along the way. 

[august948]

The whole point of this rail line is a non-stop service between the major cities. It would totally defeat the purpose to stop at every average size town along the way. 

 

And yet that's how the Shinkasen works in Japan.  They run both non-stops and puddle-jumpers.  Railroads have been doing this sort of thing since the 19th century.  It's really not that hard for them to talk and chew gum at the same time.

 

[mollusk]

The whole point of this rail line is a non-stop service between the major cities. It would totally defeat the purpose to stop at every average size town along the way. 

 

 

And yet that's how the Shinkasen works in Japan.  They run both non-stops and puddle-jumpers.  Railroads have been doing this sort of thing since the 19th century.  It's really not that hard for them to talk and chew gum at the same time.

 

 

Airlines, too.  I was booking a flight today and had my choice of everything from nonstops all the way to three stops, some with a change of planes - not counting the hellish routings that go off in some bizarre direction halfway across the country before heading in the general intended direction. (I'm sure those exist just so they can brag that they have twelve flights from Houston to Zenith or wherever daily)

[BigFootsSocks]

And yet that's how the Shinkasen works in Japan.  They run both non-stops and puddle-jumpers.  Railroads have been doing this sort of thing since the 19th century.  It's really not that hard for them to talk and chew gum at the same time.

 

You're talking about a fully established rail network that's been built out over the past 30 years. This is the first of its kind in not just Texas, but the United States. Sure, down the line it would be nice, but that is way way waaaayyyy down the road. There is literally no justification for building a station at a small town in Waco for your first line. They will build the links between the major cities first and that's it. 

[cloud713]

Waco is too small of a town.

Lulz.. Waco is bigger than College Station..

[BigFootsSocks]

Lulz.. Waco is bigger than College Station..

Never said it wasn't. But College Station has a humengous amount of cash from the government invested into it's booming BioChem Medical technologies and is growing at a much faster rate than Waco. It's also a lot closer to the proposed route than Waco...

Edited September 5, 2014 by BigFootsSocks

[mollusk]

Never said it wasn't. But College Station has a humengous amount of cash from the government invested into it's booming BioChem Medical technologies and is growing at a much faster rate than Waco. It's also a lot closer to the proposed route than Waco...

 

Not to mention being the current home base of our very own beloved Iron Tiger.  

 

Besides, another reason to ignore Waco is that they wouldn't use HSR to ship us Dr. Pepper.

Edited September 5, 2014 by mollusk

[BigFootsSocks]

Not to mention being the current home base of our very own beloved Iron Tiger.

Besides, another reason to ignore Waco is that they wouldn't use HSR to ship us Dr. Pepper.

I'm all for faster delivery of Dr.Pepper to my mouth but if they're just gonna transfer passengers I don't see the point.

[august948]

Not to mention being the current home base of our very own beloved Iron Tiger.  

 

Besides, another reason to ignore Waco is that they wouldn't use HSR to ship us Dr. Pepper.

 

In recent years, until they closed, the best Dr. Pepper was coming out of Dublin anyway.  If they still bottle Dr. Pepper in the Waco area it's likely the HFCS variety.

 

Edited September 7, 2014 by august948

[mkultra25]

In recent years, until they closed, the best Dr. Pepper was coming out of Dublin anyway.  If they still bottle Dr. Pepper in the Waco area it's likely the HFCS variety.

 

Dublin Bottling Works didn't close, they just quit bottling Dr. Pepper after the trademark dispute. They're bottling sodas under their own label now (at least some HEB stores carry them):

 

http://www.dublinbottlingworks.com/

 

Dr. Pepper took over manufacture and distribution (on a limited basis) of their soft drink made with cane sugar instead of HFCS after Dublin Bottling Works quit making it; I've seen it in 6.5 ounce six-packs in a few stores.