Why no city train link in Texas???

L

LondonOllie

250+ Posts
It's such a shame that the rail network they apparently wanted to build a few decades ago was not approved. (I Heard it was due to Southwest Airlines lobbying?).

Imagine how great it would have been to have a high speed rail link, connecting Austin/Dallas/Houston/and possibly San Antonio?

With trains (using the correct rail technology) easily able to hit 200+mph, you could get from Austin to Dallas in an hour, and Houston a little less.

They just upgraded the trains here for the Eurotunnel. In a few weeks, you will now get door to door on the train, London to Paris in 2 hours 15 minutes.

Does anyone know if that is true that it was the airlines that helped blocked this? What were the reasons given to block this?
 
the cost and because Texans are married to their cars and their land in these things rank higher than the greater good and environment....this also paves the way for folks to ***** about the traffic and high price of gas.

I think its 2 parts cost, 1 part cultural.

I live in NYC and love taking the rail to get places, business meetings, airports, hamptons, out of town, **** I take the Subway to my office
 
The airline lobby + everything next mentioned. The public transportation system or lack of it is one of the things I miss about the NE more than anything. Texans don't like forward thinking.

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If you have a decent train that's fast and takes you from the center of one city to the other in 1/3rd of the time in comfort. A train where you can work/use your computer if needed using Wi-Fi from your table where you are sitting. One that has food and drink avaiable to buy then....they don't suck.
 
Cities in Texas don't have the majority of their business in 1 or 2 areas. They are spread out all over the city. Look at Houston you have downtown, galleria, greenspoint, and all over the beltway and the energy corridor out near hwy 6.
 
Where would the station be in Austin? Once you get there, then what? I would love a good rail system too, but it's not as easy as laying it down.
 
The last state referendum allocated funds to help move freight trains along tracks outside of Austin. The problem with the tracks now is that passenger trains get second-class status to the freight trains. When this is completed the tracks through Austin can be used for passenger trains exclusively and the plans are already in the works for passenger service from San Antonio to Georgetown. I'm sure Dallas is a long-term goal.

This won't be high-speed or Acela since it's old tracks but at least they can have a concrete schedule.

The Austin station is at 5th and Lamar. Considering all the condos going up around that station and Whole Foods it's not a bad spot.
 
I'd love to take a train from Knoxville to Dallas or Austin. It'd sure as hell beat the 14-hour drive I made 2 weekends ago - at night. I'm guessing, unless I took my whole family, it'd probably be cheaper too.
 
Given the dedicated cluster of people who do / would have reason to go to a tighter area like in the 40 Acres or the Capitol, I think Austin would be a good target market for this.

As for other cities, there has to be some kind of a business centric area in some of these towns (i.e. one in Denton, one in Dallas, one in Garland, one in Houston). But I'm wisful in that regard.

I do know that for my business, the train (or commuter rail) is probably viable for less than 2% of my needs & even then, I probably couldn't combine it with other work. I don't want to travel on a bus or the train with a folding ladder.

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Dallas has lite rail and so does Houston. you expand that if need be and viola you have something akin to SEPTA in Philly or the T in Boston that connects to AMTRAK and it works. It does in the NE Corridor and this could be replicated. Cali would be a good place to start, all the way to Seattle
 
Been to New York, San Francisco, London, Paris, parts of China and lived in Taiwan. Used the train/subway. Very convenient. I live in Dallas. Oh. how I wish we had decent mass transit. I would love to be able to hop a train and go to Austin, Houston or san Antone...oh well...keep driving or flying.
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I'm really hoping that with the advances in technology, trains start to catch on in the U.S. Supposedly a high-speed train is going to run from LA to San Fran and will take about 3 hours. That is nuts.

Trains are the ****. Easily the best way to travel.
 
you have to make those cities "no car" friendly before you can even think about putting trains in between them. you build trains right now, what do you do when you get to that city? rent a car?
 
What do you consider "no car friendly" to be? I would consider I-45 from The Woodlands to Houston of Katy Freeway to be no car friendly.
 
I don't care what you call it but this city badly needs an effective rail system. I don't consider one existing rail line effective either. It shouldn't stop every four blocks in downtown. That is a joke. It also shouldn't stop for the street lights either.
 
SWA is not the reason...the reason is below. If there was a subway system in place like there is in NYC, etc, it would work. The major cities need to build their systems and then a link could be considered. I am all for eliminating the pre-boarding time, post-boarding time, trip to rental car time, line for rental car time, etc.


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