Dallas - Houston HSR Station

[cspwal]

I figured to have a new place to talk about the station to relieve the Texas Triangle thread, I'd ask where people would like to see the station end up. I added a few more options than just NW mall and downtown.

Edited September 3, 2015 by cspwal

[Luminare]

Our city is big enough for two! I want one in Downtown first and then NW Mall.

[mfastx]

Good idea, I'd rather have the main TCR thread about project updates and discussion on the project as a whole. 

 

Advantage to downtown site: 

-Connection with METRORail (and thus access to downtown, museum district, UH, TMC and Reliant quickly without a car)

-More centrally located, closer to Downtown, TMC, Greenway, major universities, both airports, museum area, etc. 

-Closer/better access to more freeways and also the potential for a development that would incorporate Amtrak and Greyhound terminals (unlikely but nice to have the option in the future)

 

Advantage to 290 location: 

-Closer to uptown, energy corridor, western suburbs

-POTENTIAL connection to BRT system up Post Oak (not sure if it will go all the way to NW Mall)

-SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper, which is really why TCR is considering this site in the first place

 

 

[102IAHexpress]

Our city is big enough for two! I want one in Downtown first and then NW Mall.

 

sounds good. Add one in the med center for me. :-)

[Naviguessor]

Downtown.  It's most accessible to the most people.  Departing and arriving.  No brainer.

[samagon]

I won't vote until there is an option for River Oaks. The thought has occurred to me that the main purpose for people traveling from Dallas would be to go to the 31 flavors across from Lamar high school, may as well put them right there.

[Sparrow]

Adjacent to the NW Transit Center would be more suitable than the NW Mall location.

[Howard Huge]

Bush Airport to downtown.

Knock out two birds with one stone.

[cspwal]

No it should be the HSR station is at NW mall, but a maglev train connects it to downtown, IAH, and the woodlands

[BigFootsSocks]

Might as well make it go to every single house while we're assuming unlimited funds

[IronTiger]

Adjacent to the NW Transit Center would be more suitable than the NW Mall location.

 

The Northwest Transit Center is unique in that there's actually purchased and cleared right of way for such a high capacity mass transit corridor.

[samagon]

Might as well make it go to every single house while we're assuming unlimited funds

 

You'd want to go to their front doors, because as we all know, going into people's backyards would be hated.

[j_cuevas713]

No it should be the HSR station is at NW mall, but a maglev train connects it to downtown, IAH, and the woodlands

See now I would like that also... I guess my train of thought is if people are being dumped downtown then it will force retail and other developments due to the huge increase of people.

[Montrose1100]

Bush Airport to downtown.

Knock out two birds with one stone.

Unfortunately I think we'll have to wait for this one.

I would like to see IAH-Downtown-HOU eventually. No stops in between. Of course, I guess you extend that same line north to the Wood Hood, and south to GTown. But that's another story.

[Houston19514]

The Northwest Transit Center is unique in that there's actually purchased and cleared right of way for such a high capacity mass transit corridor.

 

Where?

 

[BigFootsSocks]

From I-10 to 290, all of the cleared land is designated a High Capacity Transit Corridor.

[august948]

Might as well make it go to every single house while we're assuming unlimited funds

 

Can we run it down Richmond through Afton Oaks?  Since there won't be a light rail line there, there's an opening. 

 

[jackie21love]

Can we run it down Richmond through Afton Oaks? Since there won't be a light rail line there, there's an opening.

[Houston19514]

From I-10 to 290, all of the cleared land is designated a High Capacity Transit Corridor.

 

What cleared land?  By whom was this designation made?  When was it made?

[paulsuckow]

Isn't ( or wasn't) there an "intermodal" station noted for land just north and west of the downtown CBD, on original plans for the Red Line?  I always expected that could be the place that intercity bullet transport, and possibly commuter rail, was to intersect the Houston light rail network.  I'm not sure, but I think the intermodal location would have had something in common with planned Hardy Yards redevelopment?

[BigFootsSocks]

What cleared land? By whom was this designation made? When was it made?

Give me a few minutes I'll find it.

[LarryDierker]

[BigFootsSocks]

Sorry I forgot about this and I'm on mobile, it's at least part of the plans on the highway 290 construction page.

[Houston19514]

From I-10 to 290, all of the cleared land is designated a High Capacity Transit Corridor.

 

Thanks.  I found what you are apparently referring to.   The plans show a 50-foot corridor running north from the Northwest Transit Center to Hempstead Highway, and then following the Hempstead Highway corridor out to the northwest, meeting up with 290 just west of the Beltway. 

[BigFootsSocks]

My bad, didn't mean for you to do the research to support my claim, but I haven't had a chance to find it yet.

[Sparrow]

How about some meaningful info.

 

www.texascentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Step-1-Screening-of-Corridor-Alternatives-Report.pdf

 

 

Page 111 of the pdf shows a Houston station location comparison chart. Several other very interesting pages as well.

 

Also a quote: "Based on this initial screening, the preferred station area for Houston is the location around the intersection of US 290 and IH-610" on page 112.

Edited September 23, 2015 by Sparrow

[BigFootsSocks]

Yeah that's what I figured for the initial build-out of the line

[BigFootsSocks]

Page 43 (or page 30) assumes the Houston terminal to be where the Amtrak station and the Post Office land is located....

 

Edit: but that was for the BNSF route; still reading through this

Edited September 23, 2015 by BigFootsSocks

[BigFootsSocks]

Well, I guess all alignments assume a station into downtown Houston "at the Post Office site"

[BigFootsSocks]

This pretty much says it all;

 

It is recognized that development of the “Last Mile” into heavily urbanized and developed areas may generate additional ridership demand, particularly with respect to trip destinations. However, reaching the downtown station locations would require significant construction costs and result in additional impacts that would likely not be offset by the additional revenue gained from the ridership increase. Moreover, from the perspective of trip originations, there has been some evidence on HSR systems worldwide that suburban stations are more attractive since users of the system would not need to make their way into the urban core to begin their trip to a distant city. The identification of the preferred station locations has been the subject of significant ridership and engineering studies and will be documented separately from this report.