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The Texas "T-Bone"

mrfootball

By mrfootball
in The Great Northwest

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mrfootball

mrfootball

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As some of you may or may not know there's a proposal to build a high-speed rail line connecting Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio. The connector in Houston is planned for the 249 corridor, though there is movement to relocate this to the 290 corridor.

There's an upcoming meeting:

Thursday, October 26, Speaker: Harris County Judge Robert Eckels, Topic: The Texas T-Bone (Texas T-Bone is a rail project to connect two proposed high speed rail projects in Texas. One project (the South Central) spans the Fort Worth-Dallas, Waco, Austin and San Antonio corridor and one project (the Gulf Coast) spans the Houston, Baton Rouge, New Orleans corridor. The Texas T-Bone, or formally called the Brazos Express Corridor, connects both projects through the Houston area. Judge Eckels chairs the coalition of stakeholders working on the project).

We meet on the fourth Thursday of each month, 8:00-9:30 am, at the Chamber Office, 11050 FM 1960 West, Suite 100, Houston, Texas 77065.

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ENGcons

ENGcons

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Didn't they try this high speed rail a few years back and it fell through becasue SWA has political influence and killed it?

If it did go down the 249 corridor would it use the existing rail track that is currently there, or would they lay down new track?

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  • 1 year later...
jimcas

jimcas

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If commute times were cut significantly, he said, more people might be inclined to live in Temple and work in Houston, Dallas or Austin - and vice versa.

http://www.temple-telegram.com/story/local/2008/04/25/48890

Cool story. Only a newspaper article from Temple would take the angle that people would be inclined to live in Temple and work in Houston, Dallas or Austin... Also, you'd think a Texas Triangle, rather than T-Bone, would benefit Houston & Dallas more - getting a direct route between the two largest metros would be a good thing, even if it required building a little more track.

I wonder how much it would cost to ride on this and how far away in the future are we talking about - I might be an old man by that time...

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RedScare

RedScare

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If commute times were cut significantly, he said, more people might be inclined to live in Temple and work in Houston, Dallas or Austin - and vice versa.

http://www.temple-telegram.com/story/local/2008/04/25/48890

Cool story. Only a newspaper article from Temple would take the angle that people would be inclined to live in Temple and work in Houston, Dallas or Austin... Also, you'd think a Texas Triangle, rather than T-Bone, would benefit Houston & Dallas more - getting a direct route between the two largest metros would be a good thing, even if it required building a little more track.

I wonder how much it would cost to ride on this and how far away in the future are we talking about - I might be an old man by that time...

This topic is covered in more detail here.

I believe there is an even bigger thread, as well. Maybe the mods can combine them.

Here it is. It actually started in France and morphed into Texas high speed rail (intentionally).

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JustinUther

JustinUther

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I am really dissatisfied at this route configuration. Small cities and military bases should not matter.

Actually I was going to suggest extending the line from College Station North-West to Abilene then West to Midland/Odessa and El Paso. Downtown Abilene is practically on the existing railroad and Midland International Airport would be the best choice there due to the central location between Midland and Odessa.

If there were a

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RedScare

RedScare

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If we can make the system convenient enough, people will actually use it. Fully realized it will take some cars off the road and shorten lines at the airport.

If gas continues its upward trajectory, airline travel will become expensive enough that rail will become viable (if it is not already). Convenience can mean different things to different people. For instance, rail travel would already be more convenient than the torture of driving to the airport, parking in a distant lot, taking a shuttle to the terminal, going through security and boarding a flight that will probably run late. If the train is shown to also be the same price or cheaper, ridership will soar. If inner city transit in the connecting cities allows commutes without renting a car, it would be game over for short haul domestic flying.

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  • 7 months later...
lockmat

lockmat

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Holla at cha boy!

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories...63&ana=e_du

Texas will be part of a federal program to create high-speed passenger train service, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The agency said it plans to begin accepting bids from companies that will finance, design, build, operate and maintain high-speed trains in 11 federally designated corridors, according to Transportation Secretary Mary Peters.

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Highway6

Highway6

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Holla at cha boy!

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories...63&ana=e_du

Texas will be part of a federal program to create high-speed passenger train service, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The agency said it plans to begin accepting bids from companies that will finance, design, build, operate and maintain high-speed trains in 11 federally designated corridors, according to Transportation Secretary Mary Peters.

Gaey !! Does us zero good except to hit up the NO casinos faster. We already have passenger service to NO.

This sounds like part of the Houston gets the Shaft Plan.

The corridors, as currently designed by the Federal Rail Administration, stretch across the country, but only half

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ProHouston

ProHouston

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Holla at cha boy!

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories...63&ana=e_du

Texas will be part of a federal program to create high-speed passenger train service, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The agency said it plans to begin accepting bids from companies that will finance, design, build, operate and maintain high-speed trains in 11 federally designated corridors, according to Transportation Secretary Mary Peters.

Well this is a BS plan! How do you develop a high speed rail regional plan and not include Houston on the Dallas, SA, Austin lines? It would be a huge waste of money and time to connect Houston into the NO network and not the Texas network.

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20thStDad

20thStDad

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I think rail to Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin would get 100 times the traffic as to N.O (<sarcasm>oooh, take us from there to Meridian or Birmingham!!!</sarcasm>). I can't believe someone would let this get too far without figuring that out. I would go to Austin and SA easily 5 times as much if there was a fun high speed train involved.

note: I have been to SA once in 30 years, Austin 3 times. Which is dumb because I've been to Gillette Wyoming 5 times.

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mrfootball

mrfootball

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I think rail to Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin would get 100 times the traffic as to N.O (<sarcasm>oooh, take us from there to Meridian or Birmingham!!!</sarcasm>). I can't believe someone would let this get too far without figuring that out. I would go to Austin and SA easily 5 times as much if there was a fun high speed train involved.

note: I have been to SA once in 30 years, Austin 3 times. Which is dumb because I've been to Gillette Wyoming 5 times.

I recall Southwest Airlines and their lobbyist had a big part in nuking the last legit High Speed Rail effort.

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Trae

Trae

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First, TxDot is retarded. Houston should be connected with the rest of the state. Now, if the rail line for the Gulf Coast extended into Florida, maybe, but Houston should be connected to both areas. Second, this thread should be moved.

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Highway6

Highway6

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This isn't so bad. The individual corridors are probably as they are for timing, financing, etc.

Seems if such a system were actually built.. the remaining segments needed to make the Eastern system into one network would quickly fall into place either at the federal or state level.

Houston - Austin/Dallas by way of the Tbone through Temple and C.S.

Tulsa - KC

Get Nashville and Memphis on the grid connecting to St.Louis, Atlanta... possible Little Rock and Louisville.

Jacksonville - Orlando

Cleveland - Pittsburgh.

US DOT has maps and goal travel speeds up on their website

Oct18FRAmap.jpg

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livincinco

livincinco

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This isn't so bad. The individual corridors are probably as they are for timing, financing, etc.

Seems if such a system were actually built.. the remaining segments needed to make the Eastern system into one network would quickly fall into place either at the federal or state level.

Houston - Austin/Dallas by way of the Tbone through Temple and C.S.

Tulsa - KC

Get Nashville and Memphis on the grid connecting to St.Louis, Atlanta... possible Little Rock and Louisville.

Jacksonville - Orlando

Cleveland - Pittsburgh.

US DOT has maps and goal travel speeds up on their website

Oct18FRAmap.jpg

This is a pretty strange map. You're going to build thousands of miles of hi-speed rail, but you're going to leave a 225 mile gap in the network between Houston and Dallas?

Same with Jacksonville - Orlando and Buffalo - Cleveland. Why leave these little gaps in such an extensive plan?

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