Rio Grande Valley Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 Yesterday my dad was talking about that he heard somewhere that there is a rumor about a possible monorail from McAllen to Brownsville. I was just thinking if it would be a good idea to have one or if the Rio Grande Valley is ready for such a thing. Then is the question of where to build this monorail and if this project will ever get the greenlight. Please write any comments or opinions about this. If I can I'll gather information about this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumapayam Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 Is Lyle Landly selling this monorail system? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texianjoe Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 Why would you want a rail line from McAllen to Brownsville. It sounds like a train to nowhere. Now if it were to go all the way to South Padre people might ride it and help the tourist buisness in SPI.joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 Ah, here we go. So Brownsville is "nowhere" eh?You know, I'm not even going to start a fight on this one.But I must say, I don't understand why people think it's necessary to put down other cities. Is it just that something's up their ass?Later Dudes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krix Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Ah, here we go. So Brownsville is "nowhere" eh?You know, I'm not even going to start a fight on this one.But I must say, I don't understand why people think it's necessary to put down other cities. Is it just that something's up their ass?Later Dudes.I think he meant it more along the lines of the Bridge to Nowhere. That is, whenever you invest in infrastructure you will need sufficient population to sustain it.... But actually connecting the RGV to South Padre Island might actually be a boost to the RGV. How do people usually go to SPI? Do they fly directly to the island and just stay there, or do most ppl drive there or rent cars? I've only been to Mustang Island and Corpus, I don't know how it usually works down there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Well, SPI is part of the RGV. It's in Cameron County.People who live in the RGV just drive there. From Brownsville or Harlingen it's only about 20 to 30 minutes away. Visitors from other areas either drive in or, if they fly they would have to rent a car at either the Harlingen or Brownsville airport, whichever one they land in.So I can see that a train connection from McAllen Through Harlingen, Brownsville and thorugh SPI would be a great idea but as long as it stopped at the airports as well as the business districts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krix Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Well, SPI is part of the RGV. It's in Cameron County.People who live in the RGV just drive there. From Brownsville or Harlingen it's only about 20 to 30 minutes away. Visitors from other areas either drive in or, if they fly they would have to rent a car at either the Harlingen or Brownsville airport, whichever one they land in.So I can see that a train connection from McAllen Through Harlingen, Brownsville and thorugh SPI would be a great idea but as long as it stopped at the airports as well as the business districts.OK. So if visitors flew to Harlingen or Brownsville, they would rent a car anyways, or would they rather hop onto a shuttle to SPI? I mean if everybody including college kids on spring break is used to driving there anyways, this would make rail transit for the area look even less favorable... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 I think anyone who flys into the Valley to go to SPI is going to rent a car. Once they're at the Island, they are going to want a car to drive around the Island. So thinking about this again, I think a connection to SPI would probably be the last thing to be considered. The first prong I think would be viable would be between Mission and Alamo (This would take it between Mission, McAllen, Pharr, San Juan and Alamo) and perhaps a spur going up to Edinburg. A Second prong would work well between Harlingen and Brownsville.But, I don't think it would be economically viable to fill in the gap between Harlingen and Alamo.Also, I think the two prongs should start at the major border crossings in each section. It would be the visitors from Matamoros and Reynosa who would be using this type of transportation the most....................I forgot that they just built an outlet mall in Mercedes. Perhaps the rail could go all the way. And it would cover Weslaco as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rio Grande Valley Posted May 3, 2007 Author Share Posted May 3, 2007 Thanks for the replies guys. I'll get some more information if I can soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Well, SPI is part of the RGV. It's in Cameron County. I would beg to differ. I believe it to be in Minnesota. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texianjoe Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 krix that is exactly what I meant. People do not commute between Brownsville and McAllen, that is people do not live in one place and work at the other and there is nothing McAllen has that Brownsville does not. There would not be enough ridership to support it. If it were a mass transit type plan then it would have to stop at all the commuities along the route turning a 90 min. drive into a 4hr commute. If it were to go all the way to the beach with stops maybe in Harlingen and Brownsville along the way, people could, for convienience and cost, go spend the day in South Padre and take the train back home.p.s. I was born and raised in The Valley. McAllen, Houston St.joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Well, SPI is part of the RGV. It's in Cameron County.Seriously, though, this'll never happen. I never cease to be amazed at the amount of pork that the Valley gets, but this would just be excessive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texianjoe Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Seriously, though, this'll never happen. I never cease to be amazed at the amount of pork that the Valley gets, but this would just be excessive.Except they call it carnitas.joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumapayam Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Ah, here we go. So Brownsville is "nowhere" eh?Well, there really is not much going for the place, other than illegal immigration and drug smuggling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Well, there really is not much going for the place, other than illegal immigration and drug smuggling.I had to do business down there recently and found out that 4 of 5 new jobs are education, healthcare, or government. What's left is pretty is divided between SPI- and bird-related tourism and retailers that sell to everyone else. It was an astonishingly bad economy that somehow keeps growing...and at a pretty good clip, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 Well, there really is not much going for the place, other than illegal immigration and drug smuggling.Was it really necessary to make that kind of comment? Please think before you post.I could see a rail line, but not necessarily a monorail. A quick look with Google Maps shows there is plenty of agricultural land between the cities which would be cheaper to build across than residential properties.It's probably pretty easy to figure out how much of a demand there would be for such a train -- just study the traffic patterns on US 83.Also, it's important to remember that there are a lot of people in both cities who might have relatvies in the other. And it's no secret that the area has a large number of poor people. Cheap transit would seem to be a perfect fit in that market, but I'd expect it to be in the form of one of those dollar bus companies than a train. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disastro Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 Well, there really is not much going for the place, other than illegal immigration and drug smuggling. HA!!! I was thinking something similar... Editor, there's no point in hiding what we all know to be the truth! Might as well say it! Anyway, a monorail from Corpus to South Padre makes more sense to me. At least then tourists would take it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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