Texas Central Project

[Luminare]

Media coverage outside the DMN seems to be slanted against the project. Any reason why that might be?

 

Because its a juicer media story if there is people complaining and scared of things. If everyone just got along then it wouldn't make for good TV. It sucks that its that way, but its what helps with ratings. It also doesn't help that we live in an age where we don't have to get it from one source anymore and instead we can each stay in our own separate camps of for or against without any compromise. Its an issue in this project, but its a bigger societal issue as well.

[cspwal]

Some of the interesting tidbits from that Wikipedia article:

 - since the trains have more traction units, they can accelerate faster.  That should help if more stations are desired (e.g. multiple houston stations, enroute local stations)

 - the only noise pollution they mentioned was "tunnel boom" which I suspect won't be as common in Texas, as any hills might be cheaper to do a cut than a tunnel since the route isn't known as being very hilly

[BigFootsSocks]

These are fair points, but you know that it will affect some home buyers' opinion of the area still regardless.. I mainly just wanted a Cypress station to be honest :/. On another note, I wonder what this will do to the current roadmap plans of having Greenhouse extend to Skinner and having Mason and other Katy roads extend all the way up to 290 if this rail corridor is completed before they are.

Fair points? Bruh...those aren't valid opinions of merit...those are facts...

[BigFootsSocks]

Media coverage outside the DMN seems to be slanted against the project. Any reason why that might be?

Most of the articles churning out represent rural communities who think a high speed system is fully capable of stopping at every 5,000 population city along the way while retaining the "high speed" part of the name.

I mean, most of the articles bring up that guy from Texans Against High Speed Rail who only complain about hypothetical issues that they themselves create.

"We know they'll use Eminent Domain because there's private land and we won't sell"

Bro, I don't see you speaking for every single person out there when they're the ones offered hella cash for their land.

[cspwal]

New article discussing high speed trains, and the logic in station placements in US cities

 

http://www.wired.com/2015/09/america-can-learn-europes-high-speed-trains/

 

 

 

You cannot build a high-speed rail line to nowhere and expect it to attract enough passengers to be economically feasible. Many US cities, by sprawling over everywhere, are in a sense nowhere.

 

It suggests that to go along with a HSR system you also have to build up the public transit system, otherwise it won't be as useful.

 

Also 

 

 

California is the only place in the US where high-speed rail (HSR) plans are really moving forward

 

[BigFootsSocks]

https://www.bisnow.com/dallas-ft-worth/news/office/dallas-to-houston-bullet-train-could-attract-more-tenants-49822

[Montrose1100]

I'm confused. What does our port have to do with their airport? Our airports are almost as similar as the cities themselves. The port comment is irrelevant as well. Any and all freight will be moved by train and truck as they are now, and the HSR changes none of that.

There's not that many companies that deal with Maritime in Dallas. I'm pretty sure whatever minimal scheduling service companies they have in Dallas (and San Antonio), would really need to make a trip out to their barges. If they did, I bet they wouldn't fly or take the HSR.

Anyways, sorry for the complaints. Carry on.

[august948]

I'm confused. What does our port have to do with their airport? Our airports are almost as similar as the cities themselves. The port comment is irrelevant as well. Any and all freight will be moved by train and truck as they are now, and the HSR changes none of that.

There's not that many companies that deal with Maritime in Dallas. I'm pretty sure whatever minimal scheduling service companies they have in Dallas (and San Antonio), would really need to make a trip out to their barges. If they did, I bet they wouldn't fly or take the HSR.

Anyways, sorry for the complaints. Carry on.

 

I think they're talking about business travel that might involve the port, although the comment really seems to be saying Dallas has the better airport and we've got the port so tying the two cities together with hsr is going to make Texas overall a even better place to do business.  I guess they aren't aware of IAH, though.  Could be the author only flies Southwest into Hobby.

 

So if we've got an awesome airport AND the number one port in the US, do we really need hsr to Dallas?  Maybe we should run it to San Antonio instead.  SA is a lot more fun.

 

[BigFootsSocks]

Considering the outcome of last night's game...yes.

[BigFootsSocks]

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?

 

[ADCS]

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.

[IronTiger]

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.

[ADCS]

https://www.reddit.com/r/houston/comments/3ltib2/interested_in_learning_about_the_highspeed_rail/

 

Looks like they're starting a media blitz.

[BigFootsSocks]

Oh my god, I totally talked to them about this and never heard back. That's kinda lame.

[ADCS]

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.

[BigFootsSocks]

The entire state budget was being held up over it? Lol nah bruh there were a couple of bills that failed in the committee.

[BigFootsSocks]

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.

[BigFootsSocks]

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.

[BigFootsSocks]

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

[Sparrow]

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

 

 

[WestUdweller]

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??? 

[cspwal]

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

[gregpet]

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/hyperloop

I 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/

[cspwal]

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

[BigFootsSocks]

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.

[Sparrow]

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. 

[BigFootsSocks]

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

[MaxConcrete]

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

[cspwal]

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"

[IronTiger]

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?