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Texas Central Project


MaxConcrete

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very true, i edited the post because some of that were my words, not southwests. i was just trying to put two and two together but your right, that doesnt make sense. idk, i read somewhere that they said they would support the plans now. either way the other two points still stand as to why the Hou-Dal line would be built first. why wouldnt Southwest also fight a Dallas-San Antonio line if they were so opposed to losing a couple routes?

somewhere in here it talks about Southwest supporting HSR..

"Among the advantages Southwest sees is that high-speed rail will allow them to get out of the.. "

 

http://www.apta.com/resources/reportsandpublications/Documents/HSR-Defense.pdf

Edited by cloud713
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The first line built will be from Monterrey to the border. Mexico has already started construction. Then the border to San Antonio. That line will most likely be done first. The rest is up in the air to OKC because of funding, or lack thereof. Houston-Dallas will probably be done around 2021 hopefully since it has private funding.

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The first line built will be from Monterrey to the border. Mexico has already started construction. Then the border to San Antonio. That line will most likely be done first. The rest is up in the air to OKC because of funding, or lack thereof. Houston-Dallas will probably be done around 2021 hopefully since it has private funding.

My understanding is that the Mexican government has begun securing ROW but is not going to begin construction until it receives confirmation from the US government that the line will be continued on this side of the border. Funding is just now being secured to start a feasibility study on the US side, so the timeline is very open at the moment.

 

http://sacurrent.com/news/will-the-sa-monterrey-high-speed-rail-line-really-happen-1.1620445

I think Dallas-Houston is probably further along at this point.

Edited by livincinco
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My understanding is that the Mexican government has begun securing ROW but is not going to begin construction until it receives confirmation from the US government that the line will be continued on this side of the border. Funding is just now being secured to start a feasibility study on the US side, so the timeline is very open at the moment.

 

http://sacurrent.com/news/will-the-sa-monterrey-high-speed-rail-line-really-happen-1.1620445

I think Dallas-Houston is probably further along at this point.

 

Actually the ROW is complete.

 

Jorge Domene Zambrano, chief of staff for Nuevo León Gov. Rodrigo Medina de la Cruz, said state officials already had secured the all-important right-of-ways and permits. Ongoing reforms in Mexico will open what had been a monopolized rail industry to private investment, he said. The Mexican cost is estimated at $1.5 billion.

 

“The Mexican side is ready in terms of the permit,” Zambrano said. “We need to start looking for the money, which is very important to make it happen, and we are working for 2015 to be ready to start receiving the first amount of money to start the project.”

 

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/us-world/border-mexico/article/Fast-train-to-Monterrey-on-the-horizon-5150132.php

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My understanding is that the Mexican government has begun securing ROW but is not going to begin construction until it receives confirmation from the US government that the line will be continued on this side of the border. Funding is just now being secured to start a feasibility study on the US side, so the timeline is very open at the moment.

 

http://sacurrent.com/news/will-the-sa-monterrey-high-speed-rail-line-really-happen-1.1620445

I think Dallas-Houston is probably further along at this point.

 

To add to this. I don't see any part of the Houston-Dallas rail line being done by 2018.

 

"As you know, these projects are long term projects and are not built in a year — so we are looking to finish this — if everything goes okay — 2018."

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My point was that SA-DFW would be the one polititians would back because it serves more than just 2 main cities (even if those are the 2 largest/most economically power metros in the state).

 

Some of you did point out that land aquasition costs would be high for SA-DFW, and that's honestly something I didn't even think about (oddly enough).  Thinking of all the municipalities that would/could fight that or want something in return would probably make that route harder to sell.

 

I do hope that Houston to Dallas becomes a reality via high speed rail, but I'll wager we will have a much more advanced transit system in Houston before we ever have HSR in Texas.

 

Why would the route from Mexico divert to Houston?  It would run north (approximately) to SA-Austin-midcities-Dallas-KC-Chicago (at full build out).  The best we could do would be to have a route from here to Dallas-OKC-Denver-Calgary (thinking WAY long term here).

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the very last paragraph in the article cinco quoted said this..

"Because of the infancy of the project’s planning, a clear timetable was not made available, however, Gonzalez estimated that if construction on the Mexico side began in 2016, it could be completed within three years."

so 2019 at the earliest. but thats just the mexican side.. not the american side. the Houston Dallas rail line is planned to open around 2021. either way its great Texas is finally looking like it will get high speed rail service..

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Regarding the Hou-SA-MX route:  I wasn't saying that it should go to Houston instead of north toward OKC, but in addition.  For Houston, after the Dallas connection, the SA connection makes sense, which may join the SA-MX line anyway.  There would be a lot of Traffic between Monterrey and Houston.  The Dog-leg of Hou-SA-Monterrey is pretty obtuse. 

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heres another quote about Southwest supporting HSR this time.. is it true the regional routes are money losing now? i know regional was how Southwest got started..



"Southwest Airlines, for one, has made it clear that there are huge advantages for them to have high-speed rail built in California. Among the advantages Southwest sees is that high-speed rail will allow them to get out of the money-losing, overly congested regional air service business."

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To add to this. I don't see any part of the Houston-Dallas rail line being done by 2018.

 

"As you know, these projects are long term projects and are not built in a year — so we are looking to finish this — if everything goes okay — 2018."

 

If that quote is in relation to the full Monterrey-SA line, then I would say that it is, to put it nicely, an extremely optimistic estimate.

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The highway and air lobby that overwhelms Texas is going to make it very hard for something like this to happen. 

 

It's a fantastic idea and would easily capture the majority of the air/rail market share if done right and not half-assed.  It would be a very large but great investment. 

 

I hope something like this happens in my lifetime, but I am not holding my breath.

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The highway and air lobby that overwhelms Texas is going to make it very hard for something like this to happen. 

 

It's a fantastic idea and would easily capture the majority of the air/rail market share if done right and not half-assed.  It would be a very large but great investment. 

 

I hope something like this happens in my lifetime, but I am not holding my breath.

according to a few places Southwest would support high speed rail this time. i even just read that at the time of the last push for high speed rail in the early 90s that southwest was confined to only IN state flights.. no where outside of Texas. so of course they opposed the hell out of the T bone or w/e plan it was they were proposing to connect all the major metros in the state. it would of put them out of business. thats not the case anymore and supposably southwest wouldnt mind getting out of the regional game..

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according to a few places Southwest would support high speed rail this time. i even just read that at the time of the last push for high speed rail in the early 90s that southwest was confined to only IN state flights.. no where outside of Texas. so of course they opposed the hell out of the T bone or w/e plan it was they were proposing to connect all the major metros in the state. it would of put them out of business. thats not the case anymore and supposably southwest wouldnt mind getting out of the regional game..

 

That's encouraging.. but realistically any HSR line between Houston-Dallas or Houston-wherever is going to eat a lot of market share from airlines, who will lose a lot of money on those routes.

 

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according to a few places Southwest would support high speed rail this time. i even just read that at the time of the last push for high speed rail in the early 90s that southwest was confined to only IN state flights.. no where outside of Texas. so of course they opposed the hell out of the T bone or w/e plan it was they were proposing to connect all the major metros in the state. it would of put them out of business. thats not the case anymore and supposably southwest wouldnt mind getting out of the regional game..

Southwest could only fly to Texas and the adjoining states from Love Field in Dallas due to the incredibly moronic Wright Amendment, which fortunately disappears this year. From Houston, or any other location, Southwest has always been able to fly anywhere in the US.

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I see that there is talk of doing a line extension from Dallas to OKC, if that's the case, has there been any talk of doing a line extension from Houston to New Orleans?

The Feds have one shown on their high speed rail map, but I haven't heard much of it.. I don't see that having nearly as high a ridership as any of the Texas lines.

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The Feds have one shown on their high speed rail map, but I haven't heard much of it.. I don't see that having nearly as high a ridership as any of the Texas lines.

The Feds showed a lot of lines on their map that made no sense whatsoever. One line needs to be built and it needs to be proven to be economically viable and then others will follow.

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