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The Ozone Files

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    Texas Central Project

    in Transit

    Posted · Edited by The Ozone Files

    Swiping more news from /r/houston:

     

    https://www.texascentral.com/posts/design-build-contract-signed-with-salini-impreglio/

     

    Some excerpts:

     

    Quote

    On the heels of the recent regulatory announcement on the RPA, we’re excited to announce another major accomplishment. We’re pleased to share that we have signed a design-build contract with the joint venture of Salini Impregilo, one of the largest civil engineering contractors in the world, and its U.S. subsidiary Lane Construction Company. Salini Impregilo is active in more than 50 countries on five continents, with experience building more than 4,000 miles of railway infrastructure around the world – in Australia, Europe, Asia and the Americas.

    As part of the design-build scope, Salini-Lane will supply the civil infrastructure work for the new high-speed train service between Houston and North Texas.  This includes the design and construction of the viaduct and embankment sections along the entire route, the installation of the track system and construction of related buildings and services along the route that will house maintenance and other rail system equipment. 

     

    Also from the PDF press release:

    Quote

    The Texas train will be based on Central Japan Railway’s Tokaido Shinkansen train system, the world’s safest mass transportation system. The new Shinkansen N700S  is the 6th generation of this train and will be debuted before this summer’s 2020 Olympics. The system has transported more than 10 billion passengers in over 54 years with a perfect record of zero passenger fatalities or injuries from operations, and an impeccable on-time performance record.

     

    The project’s total investment is expected to be approximately $20 billion with the civil works estimated at $14 billion. This would conservatively lead to an estimated $36 billion in economic benefits state-wide over the next 25 years, including the creation of 10,000 jobs per year during peak construction and 1,500 permanent jobs when fully operational.

     

    EDIT: @102IAHexpress and I posted the news simultaneously 😁

    • Like 7

    Texas Central Project

    in Transit

    Posted

    Sharing some content from /r/houston:

     

    The above links to a cached ABC13 article:

     

    Quote

    FORT WORTH, Texas (KTRK) -- Plans for the high speed rail in Texas that will take you from Houston to Dallas in 90 minutes are racing forward.

    Texas Central, the company in charge of the project, announced Thursday its petition to issue a Rule of Particular Applicability (RPA) has been granted by the Federal Railroad Administration.

     

    With this new approval from the Department of Transportation, the FRA will now be able to start writing the regulation that will apply to the project and allow the environmental impact study to move forward.

    RELATED: History of Texas bullet train project

    The company says an RPA is a project-specific rule that is written for unique projects like the high speed rail.

    "The Federal Railroad Administration's action on the RPA marks a major achievement to make this project a reality for all Texans," said Texas Central chairman Drayton McLane. "This is a bold move by the Secretary, and the Department of Transportation, to ensure we implement the safest passenger rail system in the world."

     

    Texas Central has signed an agreement with the Spanish rail operating company, Renfe.

     

    Renfe runs more than 7,500 miles of track across Europe.

     

    Associated video: https://abc13.com/video/embed/?pid=2311749

     

    And TCR Press Release regarding the news:

    https://www.texascentral.com/posts/another-major-milestone-for-your-high-speed-train/

     

    Another post also shared this Japan Railway Journal episode about the project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw41m2pE60U

    Rather dull but learned about the various Shinkansen design iterations with a perfect safety rating for over 50 years.

     

    • Like 5

    METRO Next - 2040 Vision

    in Transit

    Posted

    New Houston Chronicle article yesterday:

    Houston’s long-range transit plan could go to voters without some specifics

    Quote

    At a board workshop Thursday, officials agreed a proposal to add light rail along Washington Avenue to downtown came in too late for inclusion in the first round of transit projects. Meanwhile, Metropolitan Transit Authority officials said it was premature to make a decision on a preferred extension of train service from the East End to Hobby Airport.

     

    • Like 2
    • Confused 1

    I-45 Rebuild (North Houston Highway Improvement Project)

    in Traffic and Transportation

    Posted · Edited by The Ozone Files

    New article in the Houston Chronicle that I haven't seen posted yet:

     

    Massive I-45 rebuild has big opposition to overcome, from air quality to flooding to low-income housing displacements
    It is a $7 billion plan aimed at easing traffic by adding managed lanes and redesigning I-45, but worries of further displacement, flooding and air quality linger as the project moves ahead.

     

    EDIT:

     

    Try this link instead:

    https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/transportation/article/Massive-I-45-project-will-remake-Houston-freeway-13999092.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HC_TexasTake&utm_term=news&utm_content=briefing

    • Like 6
    • Popular Post
    • Popular Post

    Office Tower At 3000 Richmond Ave.

    in River Oaks/Upper Kirby/Greenway Plaza/Bissonnet

    Posted · Edited by The Ozone Files

    While chatting with Bob at Imparali Tailor today, I learned that all tenants in his building were given a 6 month notice to vacate. He said the building would be torn down in order to build a 15 story office tower. This is basically just hearsay, but I thought HAIF would like to know.

     

    The building is across Richmond from Midway's Kirby Grove.

     

    I didn't find a previous thread for this address in a search. Apologies if this is old news.

    • Like 16

    307-Acres Near NRG Stadium (Formerly UT Research Campus Proposal)

    in Texas Medical Center

    Posted · Edited by The Ozone Files

    Just a thought: This campus has been advertised as a "research" campus. The qualifier indicates that the campus would not function as a traditional four-year university. It follows, then, that the campus would not compete for undergraduate admissions. It may plausibly attract some local graduate students or faculty who might otherwise choose UH. However, academic recruitment at the graduate and faculty level typically draws from a national or international pool of applicants, especially for highly-competitive, well-funded departments.

     

    Anyone familiar with the academic job market will know that there is a surplus of highly-qualified graduate students, post-docs, and faculty in the United States and abroad. The University of Texas System has access to tremendous resources (probably inequitable access, as some have noted) in the PUF, which has only grown larger thanks to the fracking boom. They are proposing to invest these otherwise untapped resources in Houston; recruit a national pool of talented, yet underutilized applicants to Houston; and presumably bring greater federal and private research grants to Houston. This is intellectual and financial capital that would simply go unused or go elsewhere.

     

    The end result should be more academic faculty, more highly-qualified students, more research dollars, and more capital investment in the Houston area, all in addition to the important growth occurring at the University of Houston. The centers of innovation in this country were preceded by a concentration of top-notch academic institutions and subsequent growth in the knowledge class: Silicon Valley and North Carolina's Research Triangle come to mind. Why can't we have this, too?

     

    And I say all this as an Aggie.

     

    Now, would it be more sensible to instead simply share the PUF more equally? Perhaps. But that's a separate, if germane, discussion.

     

    • Like 6

    Temenos Place Phase II: Affordable Housing At 2200 Jefferson St.

    in Midtown

    Posted · Edited by The Ozone Files

    Curious about the origin of the name "Temenos." Surname? Street name? Wikipedia doesn't offer many clues, except perhaps this:

     

    Temenos (Greek: τέμενος; plural: τεμένη, temene)[1] is a piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain, especially to kings and chiefs, or a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated to a god, a sanctuary, holy grove or holy precinct

    ...
    C. G. Jung relates the temenos to the spellbinding or magic circle, which acts as a 'square space' or 'safe spot' where mental 'work' can take place. This temenos resembles among others a 'symmetrical rose garden with a fountain in the middle' (the 'squared circle') in which an encounter with the unconscious can be had and where these unconscious contents can safely be brought into the light of consciousness.

     

    Any holy groves or rose gardens in the renderings?  :blink:

    The Astoria: Condominium High-Rise At 1405 Post Oak Blvd.

    in Uptown and Galleria Area

    Posted · Edited by The Ozone Files

    my problem is mainly with the kooky diamond crown thingy...and as stated before, unless its some kind of Stargate type portal for aliens to communicate with us or be transported with then that part is indeed dumb. haha

    :wacko:  :P

     

    I bet it teleports you to our city's other transdimensional portal atop the Memorial Hermann tower in Memorial City. Now that's how you beat traffic!

    • Like 5
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