AMTRAK AND TEXAS CENTRAL POTENTIALLY REVIVING HIGH SPEED RAIL
Amtrak along with Texas Central Partners could soon be reviving the controversial Dallas to Houston high-speed rail project.
Amtrak issued a press release on Wednesday that said that they have cooperated with Texas Central on various projects since 2016 and that the two entities are currently evaluating a potential partnership to further study and potentially advance the project, which has been dormant for several years.
The proposed project would see the high-speed rail run an approximately 240-mile route from Houston to Dallas at a speed of 205 miles per hour. Those involved claim that the high-speed rail would reduce the travel time between the two cities down to just 90 minutes.
Amtrak says the project would also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 100,000 tons per year, save 65 million gallons of fuel, and remove an estimated 12,500 cars per day from I-45.
Texas Central and Amtrak have submitted applications to several federal programs in connection with further study and design work.
Both Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner have both thrown their support behind the project, which would bring numerous construction jobs to both cities.
One group that opposes the project is Texans Against High-Speed Rail. They posted a message on social media encouraging everyone to call their state and local representatives and tell them to oppose it.
Waller County Judge Trey Duhon, who is also the group’s president, said that they knew there was no way the rail could be privately financed, and the fear was that taxpayer dollars would be involved at some point.
John Sitilides, who serves as the Federal Affairs Advisor for a coalition called Reroute the Route, also condemned the project’s potential revival.
In a statement posted to social media, he brought up concerns over severe public hazards, private property rights abuses, adverse minority community impacts, weakened flood control, and significant environmental damage.
This is great! I really hope it goes through. This will be safer than traveling on 45 and shorter commute.
I hope they do it!
It will definitely cost more than ot will be used, but, so what?
We waste soo much on nothing everyday.
At least this would be something, and eventually maybe even more.
I’d use it. Not every day, but I would if it was there.
It might be a much better idea than we think, especially for the future of Texas.
Do it! Trains are a very nice way to travel.
You know…if the NIMBYs hadn’t opposed this project on the grounds that it would end up publicly financed then it probably could’ve been privately financed sooner at lower interest rates. Then if it failed the shareholders would’ve been wiped out and the bondholders would’ve taken a haircut but it would’ve just sold to a new private operator. Same way as happened with the Highway 130 toll road. Instead the NIMBYs put it into the same American infrastructure doom spiral as every other project like it and assured that the developer would solicit public financing and regulators because that was their only remaining option.
Nobody wanted to see that happen, least of all me. I like private for-profit industry. I do not like traffic congestion or dealing with highway construction. Thanks for nothing, NIMBYs.
Would be best for anyone commenting here to do their research first. The train will run on elevated tracks. No need for concern about hogs or other critters crossing into the path, unless they’re of the mythological flying variety.
The design is a copy of a Japanese train that has a 100% safety record. NO injuries or fatalities in all the years of it’s operation. ZERO. NONE.
I’ll take it over a flight from Love Field to Hobby or DFW to Houston Intercontinental any day. And for the same ticket price or less.
Ha I love the statistics! The numbers they use are if everyone driving now from Houston to Dallas parks thier car, ha ha ha. When you visit friends or family in the area they would have to drive to a terminal to pick you up. Not gonna happen. Then they better have train Marshall’s because have you ever gone somewhere and ridden on a subway it’s full of criminals that steal from folks.
And once again the entire area the tracks will be going through are full of feral hogs LOTS OF FERAL HOGS…hopefully they did thier homework because a 400 pound hog on the track will derail a fast moving lightweight train. Feral hogs run in large groups at night in these counties between Houston and Dallas. If you think a barbwire fence will keep these critters off the tracks then you need to think again.
Oh…Amtrak is such a successful organization….every federal budget has funds to subsidize them. This goes along with the highly successful Wind Farms, electric cars that have a larger carbon foot print and simply all the other government programs which line the pockets of those who are connected and pass the burden on the common folk. Please people…contact every government official you can and send messages to stop this mess.
I’m pretty sure they’ll use woven wire fencing, not barbed wire.