BigFootsSocks Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 http://navasotanews.com/2015/09/17/texas-central-responds-to-feds-decision/ There’s lots of concern about possible negative effects on the County of Grimes from both construction and operation of Texas Central Partner’s proposed High-Speed Bullet Train, but TCP’s new President and CEO predicts, the line could actually be a benefit.Tim Keith tells Navasota news his company is planning on investing around $1,000,000,000 into the county and has no intention of blocking off any public roads or land owners from their property. And along with that billion dollar investment, he continues, TCP is adamant about building a train station in Grimes somewhere along the utility corridor.Keith says the company will be holding another round of open houses around the state and also plans on opening a hot-line for concerned citizens to call for more information.But, he admits there’s a lot of work that both the FRA and TCP need to do before those meetings, but Keith says the company is planning on holding them sometime this year.And when both those meetings and the hot-line are set, you’ll hear about it all right here on Navasota News.So like we've been saying for awhile, this rail will heavily invest in these rural counties, and it looks like there's a station option in Grimes county as well? Is this the "College Station" stop they're talking about? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADCS Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 http://navasotanews.com/2015/09/17/texas-central-responds-to-feds-decision/ So like we've been saying for awhile, this rail will heavily invest in these rural counties, and it looks like there's a station option in Grimes county as well? Is this the "College Station" stop they're talking about? Yes. Shiro is in the center of Grimes County. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 Yes. Shiro is in the center of Grimes County.Which is totally not a College Station stop at all and would be like (in terms of distance and travel times) putting a station in Katy and passing that off as a Houston station convenient to downtown. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADCS Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 https://www.reddit.com/r/houston/comments/3ltib2/interested_in_learning_about_the_highspeed_rail/ Looks like they're starting a media blitz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Oh my god, I totally talked to them about this and never heard back. That's kinda lame. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADCS Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 http://keranews.org/post/opponents-call-more-transparency-dallas-houston-bullet-train Saw this on Swamplot this morning. A few things to note: 1. “We had gone from nobody knowing anything about the high-speed rail project between Dallas and Houston to the entire state budget being held up over it,” said Kyle Workman, the group’s president. “So from our standpoint, it was much different than a failure. There was no such thing as a failure in our case.” Workman admits to being a troll. 2. The opposition's strategy seems to be attempting to evoke empathy with plainly self-centered desires where fearmongering does not work: “If it was your house that you built that was going to be your retirement home; plans have been made your entire life to be here; or it’s land that’s been in your family for many generations; and it's suddenly fixing to be taken away, I would be curious if they had the same opinion,” said Gary Bennett, an Ennis lawyer and landowner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 The entire state budget was being held up over it? Lol nah bruh there were a couple of bills that failed in the committee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 http://www.texascentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Step-1-Screening-of-Corridor-Alternatives-Report.pdf Further studies are currently underway to investigate commuter rail alternatives to serve the Houston metropolitan area, and one of the concepts under consideration involves development of a commuter rail corridor adjacent to or within the UPRR ROW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Through ongoing Project discussions and coordination with TxDOT, it was determined that while the overall IH-45 alignment alternative from Houston to Dallas was found infeasible, there may be opportunities to develop more limited segments of shared corridor along IH-45 between Houston and Dallas. Further, whereas the Utility Corridor alignment does not follow any major public ROW, the Project would need to secure the necessary land for the alignment from private property owners. Hence, the Utility Corridor alignment was reviewed to determine if there were segments along the Utility Corridor where the HSR alignment could be realigned to be within the IH-45 ROW to minimize property and environmental impacts. It looks like they're trying hard to minimize the impact to landowners, and thus avoid the headaches of stubborn holdouts. I'm curious if this approach is one that is being studied heavily, or just a way to please those owners whose land will eventually have to be bought out along the Utility corridor north of the diversion. A sort of "we really tried" kind of approach. At least they're considering it though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Ha! Nevermind, it's been thrown out. Guess the report came out a few months ago... While this alignment scores well relative to other alignments, it does not score as well as the base Utility Alignment. As such, this alignment was eliminated from further consideration Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparrow Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 It's confirmed that TCP will have 3 station locations at the start of operations--Dallas, Houston, and Brazos Valley. http://www.texascentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Texas-Central-Economic-Impact-Release.pdf 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestUdweller Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 I've gotta believe the Brazos Valley Station is being placed as more of a transfer station for a future expansion to Austin/San Antonio??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 Maybe, especially if it's difficult to get ROW down towards Austin and San Antonio straight from Dallas. It would still probably add time to the trip, and when they're racing 737's that cruise twice as fast as the train, every minute counts 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregpet Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 Not an advocate and not sure it will even work but...what about using the ROW for a hyperloop instead of HSR?As an interesting coincidence, Texas A&M is going to be hosting the competition to design the pods:https://engineering.tamu.edu/hyperloopI believe that the infrastructure would be much smaller than HSR so might cut down on the NIMBY folks. Also, much, much faster (How about 750 MPH!)http://www.statesman.com/news/business/spacex-picks-hyperloop-test-site-texas-am-to-host-/nmdSH/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 I think a lot of the NIMBY complaints are the fact that it's elevated, at least in town. Would be interesting to see if Hyperloop pans out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 Hyperloop is too "proof-of-concept" right now. Elon's waiting for someone to nail down the specifics and will buy up the tech to use on his Mars colony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparrow Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 I don't think we full realize the magnitude of the confirmation of the Brazos Valley Station. If Dallas to Houston will be under 90 minutes, then Brazos Valley to Houston should be in the range of 30 minutes or less. Living in the country half way between Huntsville and College Station could provide a faster rush hour commute than living in The Woodlands or Katy--this will indeed be a "game changer" more so than any high-rise or new mixed use development. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibilities to expect very high demand for a new transit-based bedroom community once this train actually comes online. If I were Huntsville or College Station, I'd probably put updating my annexation plan on my to do list. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 I agree with you, but I don't think we will see anything immediately in this area. Long term though? That site is just begging for a commuter line into College Station Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaxConcrete Posted October 18, 2015 Author Share Posted October 18, 2015 (edited) I agree with the Sparrow....the Grimes County station could have a big impact and a whole new city could eventually develop at that location, starting out as a commuter "exurb" and growing from there. if the site is near highway 105, it could benefit from the planned toll extension of SH 249. But initially that station will be in the middle of nowhere, not even convenient to Bryan-College Station. Which is why I'm somewhat perplexed about TCR's commitment to it. Maybe Texas Central is using potential development around the station to defuse political opposition in Grimes County. Does Grimes County have outsize political influence in Austin? Project opponent Senator Kolkhorst is potentially influential, but Grimes County is not in her district (but adjacent Washington and Waller counties are in her district). As for WestUDweller's suggestion of a transfer station to a connection to Austin, that seems possible but the location is far from ideal for service between DFW and central Texas. If TCR envisioned that approach, they should have gone due south from DFW to the west of B-CS with a split point somewhere to the west of B-CS. That kind of alignment was contemplated once upon a time in the 1990s.One of the reasons I like the utility alignment is that it lends itself to a westward extension toward Austin and San Antonio if HSR proves to be financially successful. On a separate topic, I spent some time looking around California's high speed rail web site (http://www.hsr.ca.gov/Newsroom/Multimedia/maps.html) and was very surprised to discover that the alignment is still under study for much of the route. Between Burbank and Palmdale there are 4 alignments under study, three of which include very long tunnels, and they're just about to start doing preliminary boring investigations. So that section has a long way to go and will be very expensive. In other places the general corridor is defined but exact alignments are still to be decided. It looks like the only section which is definitely final is the section which is under construction, 29 miles from Madera to Fresno. That section is surely among the least expensive since it is totally flat and mostly over greenfield. It appears to cost $1.37 billion (with a modest overrun expected http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/high-speed-rail/article19654086.html), or $47 million per mile, which seems very reasonable considering the cost of light rail here in Houston, around $158 million per mile for the recent openings. But many sections of the California rail will be much more expensive, which is why the official cost estimate is $68 billion and many expect it to reach $100 billion before it is all done. Edited October 18, 2015 by MaxConcrete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 Maybe they are committed to a Grimes county station because they are trying to lure an investor who lives there I do suspect though that it is an attempt to build in a use for daily users, people commuting 30 minutes from the country to Houston or to Dallas. I suspect that a rural station doesn't cost that much more to make than just the high speed rail track itself, since all they NEED is two concrete platforms at train level and a sign that says "Grimes County" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 My father says that when they proposed an HSR in the early 1990s, they determined to be profitable they would have to get everyone off of I-45 from Houston or Dallas (all of them would have to be riding the train), and is convinced that the whole thing is a lot of noise about nothing. Now, there's more population in Texas now, but also ROW is more expensive overall. Remind me again, who's proposing the railroad again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 (edited) I'm confused lolEdit; you mean JR Central? TCR/TCP is their ticket into the untapped American market. Edited October 18, 2015 by BigFootsSocks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannizer Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 http://www.texascentral.com/2015/10/20/design-build-development-partnership-announced/ Texas Central Partners (Texas Central) has reached another milestone to move our landmark high-speed railway project forward. One of the most important steps to connect the state’s largest metropolitan areas is identifying the right partner to design and conduct the pre-construction work on the project. After an extensive one-year search, I’m excited to say we have an agreement in place with an outstanding company with the right experience and expertise for a project of this magnitude. During our search, we interviewed more than a dozen global construction firms and it came down to three points: understanding, commitment and technical expertise. Today, we announce our selection of Dallas to Houston Constructors (DHC), a joint venture between Archer Western Construction and Ferrovial Agroman US Corp. (FAUS) as our partner. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 I'm confused by this, they already selected a GC? I guess there's got to be engineering already underway then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJxvi Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 My father says that when they proposed an HSR in the early 1990s, they determined to be profitable they would have to get everyone off of I-45 from Houston or Dallas (all of them would have to be riding the train), and is convinced that the whole thing is a lot of noise about nothing. Now, there's more population in Texas now, but also ROW is more expensive overall. Remind me again, who's proposing the railroad again? Was it a study paid for by SWA that ignored the fact that most traffic that would switch would be from their own air travel instead of highway traffic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADCS Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 My father says that when they proposed an HSR in the early 1990s, they determined to be profitable they would have to get everyone off of I-45 from Houston or Dallas (all of them would have to be riding the train), and is convinced that the whole thing is a lot of noise about nothing. Now, there's more population in Texas now, but also ROW is more expensive overall. Remind me again, who's proposing the railroad again? IT, there's been a lot that has changed since 1990. For example, let's take the population changes since then: DFW MSA (1990): 3,989,294Houston MSA (1990): 3,321,926Total (1990): 7,311,220 DFW MSA (2015): 6,954,330Houston MSA (2015): 6,490,180Total (2015): 13,444,510 (83.9% increase) It's not implausible at all to think that today, you'd be able to find the equivalent ridership of a significant percentage of the 1990 I-45 traffic. The population growth alone since that time would allow for this. Likewise, it's primarily regional air traffic that would switch to this mode of transportation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Also there might be induced commuting demand, especially to Houston if there's a station in Grimes county near College Station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 HOU - DAL was a much bigger part of Southwest's pie in 1990, hence Southwest's opposition to rail at the time. At the time there were flights every half hour throughout the day, with a couple on the quarters thrown in. It was possible for me to get a call at my downtown Houston office from a client in Dallas at 9 AM and to be in their office near Love at 10:30 (certainly no later than 11), and then to return home for dinner - all on planes that were carrying perhaps 70% of a full load, with a stash of drink coupons in my brief case. I also weighed less and had more hair. It was sweet. Now the flight schedule is pretty much just once an hour except for the beginning and end of the business day, with the result that the fares are about 50% more even when adjusted for inflation, plus the planes are generally completely full. Add the time burned in Security Theater and it becomes a royal pain that one has to actually think about rather than just doing. Plus, Southwest is no longer just a regional carrier so this just isn't as big a deal for them these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 When did the air traffic drop so much between Houston and Dallas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 It's been a gradual thing, but on WN it seems like the equipment went to consistently full regardless of the destination or time of day about 5 or so years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADCS Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 It's been a gradual thing, but on WN it seems like the equipment went to consistently full regardless of the destination or time of day about 5 or so years ago. Guessing that the addition of post-9/11 security, as you mentioned, made the benefit of 30 or 15 minute headways much less apparent. What's the point when you're necessarily going to spend 45-90 minutes at the airport before your flight, anyway? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJxvi Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 Telecommunications equipment is also much better now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 Some "news" about another leg of the Texas Triangle http://www.houstonpress.com/news/foreign-companies-still-want-to-bring-high-speed-rail-to-texas-7919252 In summary, the Trib is essentially reporting that some foreign companies ... are possibly sneaking around and talking to anonymous Texas officials about undetermined high-speed rail plans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 Really snarky write-up by the Houston Press. I'm curious why this is their stance on HSR; mysterious land-owning benefactor, or something else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 They want a High speed train to Austin from Houston and are annoyed that there isn't being one built 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 The other day in the local rag, there was a full page color ad promoting the TCR. I could probably get a picture of it soon... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADCS Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 Really snarky write-up by the Houston Press. I'm curious why this is their stance on HSR; mysterious land-owning benefactor, or something else? Probably lives or has friends in the Rice Military/Wash Ave corridor. Those folks really don't like the idea, and rationality has not a whole lot to do with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 Chinese have offered funding for the California high speed rail and also LA to Vegas. No surprise there. Also, Japan China France and Spain are all trying to get in to the budding high speed rail in Southeast Asia as well, India in particular. They're trying to sell the technology and knowledge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannizer Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/transportation/article/Planned-high-speed-rail-line-won-t-come-downtown-6627877.php https://www.fra.dot.gov/eLib/Details/L17203 The area around U.S. 290 and Loop 610, anchored by Northwest Mall, is likely to be the end of the line for a proposed Houston-to-Dallas high speed passenger train. The Federal Railroad Administration has eliminated from consideration both of the paths that would have carried the trains to Houston's central business district. The agency is overseeing environmental approvals for the multi-billion-dollar line proposed by Texas Central Partners. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 Two alternatives for the Downtown Houston geographic group, DH‐1 and DH‐2, have potential to create significant environmental impacts, thereby resulting in higher per mile costs (TCR’s Last Mile Analysis Report 2015a). Given the cost to build the Downtown Houston potential route alternatives, they do not meet the economic viability of the Project purpose and need. Accordingly, FRA eliminated DH‐1 and DH‐ 2 from further consideration for this Project. Oh well. If bringing the rail into downtown isn't economical, we need to push for a inner Katy line to connect the HSR station with downtown and the med center. With the Uptown bus line, the Galleria will have much better connection with this station than either the med center or downtown. The only question on the station location itself is whether they will finish 290 or finish building the railway first Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfastx Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 I laughed at "anchored by Northwest Mall." Yeah, that's a signature property right there. Lol. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 It will be once they make the train station and redevelop the property 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 I laughed at "anchored by Northwest Mall." Yeah, that's a signature property right there. Lol. Nothing says "Welcome to Houston" like a dead mall... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdotwill84 Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 I'm not too upset...this should be great news for the uptown & university line connections to downtown.....right?......right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naviguessor Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 I can see it now. Hey Buddy. How do I get downtown Houston?Well, whatcha gotta do is get on this bus here, ya see. Take it to the end. Then get on the University Line headed east, ya see. Get off at Wheeler Station. You writing this down? Then you jump on the Red Line heading to downtown. Simple as that. Won't take you more than two hours and your there. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 I can see it now. Hey Buddy. How do I get downtown Houston?Well, whatcha gotta do is get on this bus here, ya see. Take it to the end. Then get on the University Line headed east, ya see. Get off at Wheeler Station. You writing this down? Then you jump on the Red Line heading to downtown. Simple as that. Won't take you more than two hours and your there. No doubt there will be a taxi stand. And rental cars. Plus, isn't the Northwest Transit Center about a half mile down the road? I would think there would be a shuttle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naviguessor Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 Of course there would be those things. And hopefully a more direct rail link too. My point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 Oh well. If bringing the rail into downtown isn't economical, we need to push for a inner Katy line to connect the HSR station with downtown and the med center. With the Uptown bus line, the Galleria will have much better connection with this station than either the med center or downtown.The only question on the station location itself is whether they will finish 290 or finish building the railway firstEven if there is an uptown and university line there still needs to be an east/west line from northwest transit center into downtown, something parallel to university line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 I can see it now. Hey Buddy. How do I get downtown Houston?Well, whatcha gotta do is get on this bus here, ya see. Take it to the end. Then get on the University Line headed east, ya see. Get off at Wheeler Station. You writing this down? Then you jump on the Red Line heading to downtown. Simple as that. Won't take you more than two hours and your there.At one point there was an idea of a line linking northwest transit center downtown I think on the original 2003 referendum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparrow Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 No doubt there will be a taxi stand. And rental cars. Plus, isn't the Northwest Transit Center about a half mile down the road? I would think there would be a shuttle. Best case scenario is being located closer to the NW TC in one form or another. The closer the connection the more straight forward it is to board a nice plush P&R bus to either Downtown, Uptown, or the EC. Simply add more buses to the already existing network. One the plush bus network becomes overloaded, then consider other projects. The connection from the station to the NW TC is vitally important--there's no doubt TCP knows this and will provide this connection via People Mover or some other technological means. This area's industrial warehouse days are numbered. N. Post Oak will be vastly changed a decade from now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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