TxDOT To Study Houston-Dallas Rail Line

[asubrt]

I thought I remembered a thread on Texas high-speed rail but I couldn't find it so I just made a new one. Feel free to place this into the proper place if there's already an existing thread.

TxDOT to study routes for Houston-Dallas line

$15 million U.S. grant seen as a sign that highways alone not enough

May 9, 2011, 8:51PM

The Texas Department of Transportation will receive $15 million to begin engineering and environmental work on a high-speed rail link between Houston and Dallas, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Monday.

Though it could be a decade or more before Houstonians can reach North Texas on a train topping 150 mph, rail advocates say the grant of federal stimulus funds is an important acknowledgment that the state's congested highways alone cannot accommodate Texas' growth.

"This is really big news for Texas because it connects the two biggest cities, and it's not just a study to analyze whether that corridor makes sense — this decision admits that if there is a corridor in Texas that makes sense, Houston-Dallas/Fort Worth is that corridor," said Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, the former CEO of a transportation trade group.

The grant was part of $2 billion the Federal Railroad Administration awarded to 22 high-speed inter-city passenger rail projects in 15 states. The funds became available after they had been rejected by Florida, having been turned away earlier by Wisconsin and Ohio, said Bill Glavin, director of TxDOT's rail division. The Republican governors in those states said they could not afford the possible local costs associated with the work.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry will have no such option. The grant stipulates the states awarded the funding cannot return it, Glavin said.

President Barack Obama's administration has set aside more than $10 billion for high-speed rail, but Texas has gotten nominal amounts — $4 million from one round of awards, then $11 million, then $5.6 million.

http://www.chron.com...an/7557609.html

[TheNiche]

The headline should read, "$15 million U.S. grant seen as a sign that NOBODY IMPORTANT CARES".

Really? Is that all we get? That's federal lip service.

[Fringe]

Wasn't a study done on this about 20 years ago?

[samagon]

The headline should read, "$15 million U.S. grant seen as a sign that NOBODY IMPORTANT CARES".

Really? Is that all we get? That's federal lip service.

so long as there is a promise that after the engineering work is done that there is more money to actually put a rail line in, and not have been just a waste of 15 million.

personally I think houston - san antonio would be more beneficial, traffic that way is always worse, I dread the drive every time I have to make it.

[august948]

so long as there is a promise that after the engineering work is done that there is more money to actually put a rail line in, and not have been just a waste of 15 million.

personally I think houston - san antonio would be more beneficial, traffic that way is always worse, I dread the drive every time I have to make it.

I drive I-10 to San Antonio several times a year and don't recall a time when traffic was particularly bad. Are you talking about traffic near or in Houston?

[TheNiche]

I drive I-10 to San Antonio several times a year and don't recall a time when traffic was particularly bad. Are you talking about traffic near or in Houston?

It's not that traffic typically comes to a halt. It isn't even that slow. There are just so few opportunities to weave in and out at a high rate of speed.

[august948]

It's not that traffic typically comes to a halt. It isn't even that slow. There are just so few opportunities to weave in and out at a high rate of speed.

I don't know...the only limitations on that I've found are put up by our friends at the DPS. Especially once you pass Katy Mills.

[ricco67]

Personally, I think a Dallas, Houston, Galveston link would do well.

This way you have to major airline hubs that could be used for business, but would also allow tourists to hit galveston's cruise lines.

[august948]

Personally, I think a Dallas, Houston, Galveston link would do well.

This way you have to major airline hubs that could be used for business, but would also allow tourists to hit galveston's cruise lines.

You are probably right, though my personal preference is to link Houston, San Antonio and Austin. I try not to ever go north of Waxahachie if I can help it.

[ricco67]

You are probably right, though my personal preference is to link Houston, San Antonio and Austin. I try not to ever go north of Waxahachie if I can help it.

"What's the best thing to come out of Dallas? I-45!"

Love that joke.

Anyway, I'd like for it to connect major cities as well, but truth be told, we need to expand our overall freight rail system as well. It will be my hope that this can happen as well. If so, then the railroads can help pay for something they can benefit from greatly. Few people realize how crowded the rails are around the country.

[samagon]

I drive I-10 to San Antonio several times a year and don't recall a time when traffic was particularly bad. Are you talking about traffic near or in Houston?

from about Columbus to about where it turns into 3 lanes, the last 4 times I've been to SA, speeds have slowed to about 10-20 mph.

It's not that traffic typically comes to a halt. It isn't even that slow. There are just so few opportunities to weave in and out at a high rate of speed.

I do all of my high speed weaving in school zones, while texting from my personal phone, and talking on the work phone, plus reaching for the fry that fell from the container between the passenger seat and the center tunnel, all while reading war and peace.

[Nate99]

Non-returnable $15 million grant? I'm sure there are thousands of groups eager to gobble it up, but in the grand scheme of transit issues in Dallas and Houston, getting to a more or less central location in one city from a more or less central location in the other is not a problem currently. Trains to and from the respective 'burbs and other lines connecting the business districts would seem to help more people, but when it comes to spending tax $ it's who you help not how many.