Comments on: The Mini Triangle http://www.neohouston.com/2009/11/the-mini-triangle/ advocating urbanism in the opportunity city Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:06:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Matthew Abbott http://www.neohouston.com/2009/11/the-mini-triangle/#comment-565 Matthew Abbott Tue, 11 Oct 2011 22:05:43 +0000 http://www.neohouston.com/?p=1689#comment-565 As a native Houstonion recently graduated from A&M and now living in Austin, I would kill for even just the bottom leg of this triangle. Even with a 4-cylinder Civic I spend almost a tank of gas round trip to visit home, and almost as much to visit my girlfriend in CS. There are always passenger cars on the routes to either city; I'm sure there would be plenty of demand for a HST through that route. I know this is sort of a theoretical thing, but two years later, has a plan for HST made it anywhere? As a native Houstonion recently graduated from A&M and now living in Austin, I would kill for even just the bottom leg of this triangle. Even with a 4-cylinder Civic I spend almost a tank of gas round trip to visit home, and almost as much to visit my girlfriend in CS. There are always passenger cars on the routes to either city; I’m sure there would be plenty of demand for a HST through that route. I know this is sort of a theoretical thing, but two years later, has a plan for HST made it anywhere?

]]> By: Keep Houston Houston http://www.neohouston.com/2009/11/the-mini-triangle/#comment-564 Keep Houston Houston Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:47:23 +0000 http://www.neohouston.com/?p=1689#comment-564 OK. The thing about having so many local stops along the lines is if you do this, you need to build it like Shinkansen where local stations are offline platforms with high-speed turnouts. Done right, it's a huge boost to the small towns along the way. But we have a really crap track record in the U.S. of doing this. More often then not we put all the platforms on the main line and try to pretend like we can use creative scheduling to mesh express and local trains. This NEVER works, which is why in places like Philly or Boston or Connecticut your express is always stuck behind a local. It's annoying. So - possible, but goes against all US design practice, and so would be VERY difficult to survive the PS&E stage where things get "cut" to bring costs "in line" with projections. OK. The thing about having so many local stops along the lines is if you do this, you need to build it like Shinkansen where local stations are offline platforms with high-speed turnouts. Done right, it’s a huge boost to the small towns along the way.

But we have a really crap track record in the U.S. of doing this. More often then not we put all the platforms on the main line and try to pretend like we can use creative scheduling to mesh express and local trains. This NEVER works, which is why in places like Philly or Boston or Connecticut your express is always stuck behind a local. It’s annoying.

So – possible, but goes against all US design practice, and so would be VERY difficult to survive the PS&E stage where things get “cut” to bring costs “in line” with projections.

]]> By: WAZ http://www.neohouston.com/2009/11/the-mini-triangle/#comment-563 WAZ Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:03:45 +0000 http://www.neohouston.com/?p=1689#comment-563 I love your posts about high-speed rail in Texas. The one thing I wonder: could Texas TGV lines go to the airports as well? . There is a TGV station at Paris Charles de Gaule Airport. I could see stations at Houston Intercontinental and Dallas/Fort Worth Airports. They could provide a speedy link from the airports to downtown, and allow people from outlying cities to get to the airports without driving. They could also give people the option to take the train rather than connecting flights between IAH and DFW. . Would it work, though? I love your posts about high-speed rail in Texas. The one thing I wonder: could Texas TGV lines go to the airports as well?
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There is a TGV station at Paris Charles de Gaule Airport. I could see stations at Houston Intercontinental and Dallas/Fort Worth Airports. They could provide a speedy link from the airports to downtown, and allow people from outlying cities to get to the airports without driving. They could also give people the option to take the train rather than connecting flights between IAH and DFW.
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Would it work, though?

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