Texas’ Long-Awaited Bullet Train Plans to Start Construction

All these train derailments lately. They are going to have a heavy amount of public convincing to do thanks to Norfolk Southern.

 

When are they starting construction?

 

#soon
2 years away from being 2 years away
etc., etc.

The guy running the show resigned a while back, but the latest I read was that earlier this year the Texas Supreme Court gave the ok for them to "acquire" land from landowners via eminent domain. Then I read landowners were taking Texas Central to court over it. So ... yeah.... #soon.

 

I missed this story last month... it's still breathing. I'm impressed. :

Texas Central and Amtrak Seek to Explore High-Speed Rail Service Opportunities between Dallas and Houston

 

I've been taking the bus a lot between Dallas and Houston (Vonlane + Red Coach) lately for work. I honestly like the convenience of being able to buy my tickets last minute and not having to go through airport security.

Having a high-speed rail would be really awesome.

 

Texas should just hire Japan to do the high speed rail system. They know what they're doing.

 

But they dont speak Engrish

 

We could honestly hire any other developed countries at this point...

 

Would you pay $300-400 for a ticket? I believe that was the implied price point even though they never really came out and wanted to say one.

 

When was that ever implied? I recall them saying it would be competitive with airline tickets.

 

They said that but then the last I read it seemed like those prices were trending higher and they didn’t want to come off as committal on a price range. It made it seem like prices would be higher than expected but who knows.

I did see Japan just raised their bullet train prices by 70%.

 

Tough to say at this point, I'm still not buying it'll ever happen even though it would be fantastic. Too good to be true.

Here in the northeast, train prices are much higher than airline prices typically, because it's just a much more popular and convenient way to travel between the cities. Just demand pricing.

 

The trains are built by Japan and the system will be run by a Spanish company. Both know what they're doing. It's acquiring the land and going through legal loopholes in the US that is much of the hold up. The US is the part that doesn't know what it's doing. lol.

 

I don’t think it’s a matter of not knowing what to do. The land is extremely expensive to acquire and I don’t think that company has enough money or financing to do it.

https://www.enr.com/articles/54358-...rivate-high-speed-rail-can-use-eminent-domain

Based on that court fight and link I’m willing to bet this project is complete non viable in this interest rate environment. So I guess if it were a matter of not knowing what to do it would lie with the company and rates and not the US.

 

If you're willing to pay more, just fly JSX between hobby and love field. They're technically classified as a charter airline so they operate their own terminal with no TSA. They operate the way shuttle airlines used to operate on the east coast (before 9/11 anyway).

 

They should've called this a gun train to spark public interest and funding.

 

Is that one-way or round-trip?

These are the costs currently for one way from Houston to Dallas:

United: $130-$300 depending on how in advance you purchase
JSX: $170-$220
Vonlane: $130
Red Coach: $60


If its $300 round trip, honestly not bad. Especially if it's more convenient + faster.

 

I've been meaning to try JSX. Heard good things about it. Will probably try it at the end of this month actually.

 

What I meant by that is the sheer amount of time it takes for anything to get done. This bullet train was first proposed/announced back in 2013, if not earlier. In the subsequent 10 years we really haven't done squat except go through the legal system. Yay. And interest rates were much lower during much of that time, too. Maybe in another 10 years, we may announce we're almost to the point of laying some concrete.

The only reason I think this is surviving right now is probably the crap-ton of funding Amtrak got from the Infrastructure bill. I want this to succeed, and would love to use it every so often, but I'm not holding my breath.

From the beginning the ticket prices have been somewhat vague, but they've said in the past the costs would be competitive with air travel on the upper end, and I believe, with driving on the lower end. I doubt it'll be the cost of driving, and probably closer to the price of a flight. My sweet spot would be about $150-$175 or less each way, but I doubt that'll happen. Even at the price of an airline ticket, I'd rather take the train, but would do it less spontaneously. At that price, I'd rather just take my car. I'd love for Austin, Houston, and Dallas to be connected, but doubt that's going to happen in my lifetime. I'd be impressed if even the Houston-to-Dallas connection came about.

After looking at the prices you listed and assuming they're accurate, I can't help but cry. Anybody remember in the last 90's and early 2000's when you could fly one way between Houston and Dallas for $20-$40 on SWA during their specials? lol.