Not happening.
High speed rail between Dallas and Houston coming!!!
- Thread starter Sonic Boom of the South
- Start date
why not? Unlike the other proposals, this is a private venture. Also, unlike the others, they aren't making unrealistic deadlines and they are actually going through the normal process for infrastructure. It might not happen, but they are moving with each step as if they are really building it with little publicity except actual public meetings.
it looks like special interests groups are in the process of stopping it again smh.
http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/loca...eting-bullet-train-project-advances/25511223/
Senate bill targeting bullet train project advances
Aman Batheja, The Texas Tribune8:44 a.m. CDT April 9, 2015
6TWEET 9LINKEDINCOMMENTEMAILMORE
(TEXAS TRIBUNE) -- A bill that would hobble a private company's plan to build a $12 billion high-speed rail line from Dallas to Houston passed out of a Senate committee Wednesday, spurred by concerns that private landowners would see their land taken against their will for the project.
The Senate Transportation Committee voted 5-4 to pass out Senate Bill 1601, from state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, which would strip firms developing high-speed rail projects from eminent domain authority.
Texas Central High-Speed Railway is developing a privately financed bullet train to carry passengers between Houston and Dallas in less than 90 minutes, with a single stop in between near College Station. The company has said it hopes to have the train running by 2021 and has vowed to not take any public subsidies. While the project has drawn strong support in Houston and Dallas, officials in the largely rural communities along the proposed route have expressed opposition.
Kolkhorst said Wednesday that she didn't want to see private landowners lose their land for a project that she believed is likely to fail.
"While I think in some countries it has worked, I don't see a whole lot of high-speed rail across the United States," Kolkhorst said. "I just don't see it, and I'm not sure I want Texas to be the guinea pig on this."
Four Republicans joined Kolkhorst in voting for the bill: Transportation ChairmanRobert Nichols of Jacksonville, Troy Fraser of Horseshoe Bay, Kelly Hancock of North Richland Hills and Bob Hall of Edgewood. Voting against the bill were two Houston Democrats, Rodney Ellis and Sylvia Garcia, and two North Texas Republicans, Don Huffines of Dallas and Van Taylor of Plano.
Currently, hundreds of private firms have eminent domain authority in Texas, including pipeline companies, utility companies and telecommunication firms. More than a dozen private railroad companies also have that authority, according to an unofficial list maintained by the state comptroller.
Yet at Wednesday's hearing, Republican senators expressed concern that a private company was going to use eminent domain authority for a for-profit venture.
"Eminent domain is probably the most horrific power that the government has, and to dole that out to individual companies that can misuse that or use it for projects that result in profits, we have to be very careful about doing that," Hall said.
Texas Central Chairman and CEO Richard Lawless told the committee he felt his company was being unfairly singled out.
"All that we ask that this train be treated like any other private train in Texas," Lawless said. "It does not seem fair to us that this train should be prohibited in Texas just because it goes faster than other trains."
Since it first announced its plans for the project in 2012, Texas Central has touted itself as a private company uniquely positioned to make the first successful high-speed rail line in Texas. The company plans to purchase trains from the Central Japan Railway Company, which has operated bullet trains in Japan for decades. Although Gov. Rick Perry never took a public position on the project, he met with Central Japan Railway Company President Koei Tsugi during a trip to Japan last year.
Kyle Workman with Texans Against High-Speed Rail, which was formed in response to the Texas Central project, said Wednesday that there are many private landowners in communities along the route who do not want to sell their land no matter the asking price.
"The use of eminent domain basically gives this private company the ability to override the needs and wants of people that are in the middle," Workman said.
Texas Central President Robert Eckels said the company has already been in talks with landowners who could be impacted by the project and acknowledged there have been some holdouts that might require the company to resort to condemning their land through eminent domain. Yet he argued that a private company would be able to compensate those landowners better than the public government.
"We have the ability to pay more because it's not taxpayer dollars," Eckels said. "We, in fact, can pay more as a private company and expect that we will be paying more."
During the hearing, Kolkhorst said the company's plan to build an elevated track was among the reasons she felt Texas Central should be treated differently than other private rail firms.
"This begins to make the Trans-Texas Corridor not look so bad," Kolkhorst said. "At least you could get across the Trans-Texas Corridor in theory in certain places."
Texas Central officials said that they were working to fight against misinformation about the project in various communities, including concerns that the rail line would block roads. They said the train line would have overpasses and underpasses throughout the route.
"Every road crossing will be separated," Eckels said. "We cut off no road. We would provide much better access than freight rail."
Lawless also noted that the bullet train's footprint over its 240-mile route would be 100 feet wide and 3,000 acres total, a far cry from the Trans-Texas Corridor, which was expected to be 10 times wider than that in some areas.
The federal government, which must approve any new passenger rail system, is in the middle of an environmental impact study of the project, which is being paid for by Texas Central. Kolkhorst acknowledged during the hearing that her bill would not stop the federal government from using eminent domain authority to develop the bullet train line. She said the goal of her bill was to ensure the company didn't have "the state's blessing" to use eminent domain.
Eckels said he didn't understand why lawmakers would want to potentially increase the federal government's role in the project.
"Quite honestly, I'd rather do this as a Texas project rather than rely on the federal government to tell us what to do," Eckels said.
Kolkhorst's bill is one of a handful filed this session aimed at impacting Texas Central's project. A bill from state Rep. Will Metcalf, R-Conroe, would require the elected officials of every city and county along the route to approve the project. It has yet to be scheduled for a hearing.
yeah that would be nice but you know how these texans are about being compared to those foreigners.If we had the same transportation system as Japan u would never need a car
in fact some of the issues the lawmakers had about the plan was how much a japanese firm would make off of it.
they more worried about trivial shyt like that then fixing the transportation for a state with a booming popul. they got to do something if these population estimates are correct for the next 20 years.
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them law makers trust when I tell u they may make good money but in long run it is extremely beneficial for allJust think of it this way
Going to club drinking on train then drinking on way back without spending a dime in club no dui involved
Go to store for minor things not worried bout traffic or gas money just get it carry bad on train then head home train spots were like so close to each other U wouldn't mind the walk and it's good exercise
Meet broads on train
Once I knew the system I never drove in Japan
Drink on train meet females go to club meet females
Drunk on train and then just walk to my barracks no issues it was so easy
newworldafro
DeeperThanRapBiggerThanHH
If they put it oin I-45 instead of out in the rural areas maybe that would prevent to many eminent domain problems....since a transportation corridor is already there... of course, its going to be WAAAAY MORE than $10 billion .... 
I hope it works out one way or another. The current route proposals have a station near College Station/Texas A&M. That location would be a transfer stop connection west to Austin to San Antonio.
NOT the current proposed routes, but pretty close... I actually like this version better as far as financing b/se it connects Waco, which current line doesn't. Plus, you get a rail to Galveston, which would probably turn that joker into a mini Miami. College Station would be a great place to live, cause you would be about an hour or less from all the major cities on rail. Be in a different city every weekend, without driving or getting on airplane. Shiit...you could commute, depending on where your job was ..
The price of any land near any of those stations will go into the stratosphere.
Awesome concept. Texas would be on that Northeast Corridor level of connectivity if these 2 or 3 lines get built
I hope it works out one way or another. The current route proposals have a station near College Station/Texas A&M. That location would be a transfer stop connection west to Austin to San Antonio.
NOT the current proposed routes, but pretty close... I actually like this version better as far as financing b/se it connects Waco, which current line doesn't. Plus, you get a rail to Galveston, which would probably turn that joker into a mini Miami. College Station would be a great place to live, cause you would be about an hour or less from all the major cities on rail. Be in a different city every weekend, without driving or getting on airplane. Shiit...you could commute, depending on where your job was ..
The price of any land near any of those stations will go into the stratosphere.
Awesome concept. Texas would be on that Northeast Corridor level of connectivity if these 2 or 3 lines get built
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If they put it oin I-45 instead of out in the rural areas maybe that would prevent to many eminent domain problems....since a transportation corridor is already there... of course, its going to be WAAAAY MORE than $10 billion ....
I hope it works out one way or another. The current route proposals have a stop near College Station/Texas A&M. That location would connect west to Austin to San Antonio.
NOT the current proposed routes, but pretty close... I actually like this version better as far as financing b/se it connects Waco, which current line doesn't. Plus, you get a rail to Galveston, which would probably turn that joker into a mini Miami.
Awesome concept. Texas would be on that Northeast Corridor level of connectivity if these two lines get built
the thing is will they follow the europe and japanese concept of transportation tho
where there are multiple stops in between areas not cities like a stop for every 15 blocks or something like that and goes to diff cities at same time and where u have diff types of trains where one runs faster than the other and has less stops or more stops it be a preference thing
instead of a just a reg train station to just get to diff cities only
If they put it oin I-45 instead of out in the rural areas maybe that would prevent to many eminent domain problems....since a transportation corridor is already there... of course, its going to be WAAAAY MORE than $10 billion ....
I hope it works out one way or another. The current route proposals have a station near College Station/Texas A&M. That location would be a transfer stop connection west to Austin to San Antonio.
NOT the current proposed routes, but pretty close... I actually like this version better as far as financing b/se it connects Waco, which current line doesn't. Plus, you get a rail to Galveston, which would probably turn that joker into a mini Miami. College Station would be a great place to live, cause you would be about an hour or less from all the major cities on rail. Be in a different city every weekend, without driving or getting on airplane. Shiit...you could commute, depending on where your job was ..
Awesome concept. Texas would be on that Northeast Corridor level of connectivity if these 2 or 3 lines get built
The reason they went more rural instead of I-45 is because the utility corridor would be cheaper and have minimal disturbance to land owners. They are basically following the huge Powerline easement that runs NW from Houston, then turns north to Dallas. This allows them to need minimal private land. The people against this are just being alarmist. Everything they are complaining about is addressed everytime these dudes speak.
This is the actual map. The yellow route is the Utility corridor that was chosen. You can see how straight it is because its an existing easement that rarely uses any private land. No College Station. No The Woodlands. The route will only deviate from the corridor to turn at large radii. This is a high speed express route replacing the huge number of Hobby to Love flights that are being routed elsewhere now that Wright is lifted from Love Field. I know the state officials know this, but they like to rabble rouse anyway. This isn't the Northeast. There is simply nowhere to stop between these cities that would make for profitable business. You're talking about a bunch of small towns.
newworldafro
DeeperThanRapBiggerThanHH
The reason they went more rural instead of I-45 is because the utility corridor would be cheaper and have minimal disturbance to land owners. They are basically following the huge Powerline easement that runs NW from Houston, then turns north to Dallas. This allows them to need minimal private land. The people against this are just being alarmist. Everything they are complaining about is addressed everytime these dudes speak.
This is the actual map. The yellow route is the Utility corridor that was chosen. You can see how straight it is because its an existing easement that rarely uses any private land. No College Station. No The Woodlands. The route will only deviate from the corridor to turn at large radii. This is a high speed express route replacing the huge number of Hobby to Love flights that are being routed elsewhere now that Wright is lifted from Love Field. I know the state officials know this, but they like to rabble rouse anyway. This isn't the Northeast. There is simply nowhere to stop between these cities that would make for profitable business. You're talking about a bunch of small towns.
Yeah, you're right about the utility corridor aspect. Forgot about that. If that's the case, Congress should be aware of this fact, cause clearly it will be very minimal impact on land, and eminent domain will not be an issue. Like you said the Right of Way is already available. Also, its supposed to be elevated all the way along the corridor, so people can walk and drive pass it. No roads will be impacted I don't believe.
However, if you look at that map, you just barely see College Station in the western outlined county. There is supposed to be a station where the red line crosses the yellow line, on the route, about 22 miles form College Station. But you're right, fewer stations the better. But I know if they ever get a line to Austin and San Antonio, then College Station or that intersection point on the map would more than likely be a transfer station.
Long story short, if Texas want this, people should speak up.. Everyone I've talked with here in Houston, at least, thinks its the greatest thing since apple pie.
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Long story short, if Texas want this, people should speak up.. Everyone I've talked with here in Houston, at least, thinks its the greatest thing since apple pie.
Those who live in the metro cities want it, its the small rurals who came up with every possible scenario as to why its not a good idea for them. They mentioned having their 150yr old land split, longer routes to whatever the fukk is out there, and less accessibility for emergency services and school bus routes.
If it happens the builders would gently work around their issues but for the most part, not give a fukk and do it how they want.
The College Station stopped was already deemed as not feasible at this time. Based on the meeting I went to in Dallas, they think they can make a profit quickly just Houston to Dallas. At least on the Dallas end, they are working with a developer to build a massive station that links to light rail, street car, commuter rail and buses. The approaches to both cities should be super easy. Thankfully they sidestepped the regional planners that were wanting the station elsewhere to make it easier to get to Arlington and Fort Worth. The regional council will have to figure that part out later.
And connect it up to OKC also, we're important too!! Nobody loves us.
If they put it oin I-45 instead of out in the rural areas maybe that would prevent to many eminent domain problems....since a transportation corridor is already there... of course, its going to be WAAAAY MORE than $10 billion ....
I hope it works out one way or another. The current route proposals have a station near College Station/Texas A&M. That location would be a transfer stop connection west to Austin to San Antonio.
NOT the current proposed routes, but pretty close... I actually like this version better as far as financing b/se it connects Waco, which current line doesn't. Plus, you get a rail to Galveston, which would probably turn that joker into a mini Miami. College Station would be a great place to live, cause you would be about an hour or less from all the major cities on rail. Be in a different city every weekend, without driving or getting on airplane. Shiit...you could commute, depending on where your job was ..
Awesome concept. Texas would be on that Northeast Corridor level of connectivity if these 2 or 3 lines get built