Introduction
Today I’m starting a series on high-speed rail. This first post contains my opening thoughts, and some of the background assumptions that inform the rest of what I’m going to write about.
The Trains
When considering a high-speed rail system one of the most important questions is, “What kind of train should we use?” There are a number of technologies in existence around the world that a high-speed rail system could be built with, and each of them has certain advantages and certain drawbacks. First, there are conventional steel-wheel trains. [...]
The Routes
The question of where to route a high-speed train in Texas is probably the most widely discussed aspect of the subject. There have been a number of proposals, from the fairly straightforward Texas TGV to the outright asinine Trans-Texas Corridor, and the low cost “Texas T-Bone” plan. In an attempt to combine the best elements of the “Triangle” and the “T-Bone” into a single system, I’ve come up with an alternate plan.
Houston – Part 1
As a privately funded system, the Texas High-Speed Rail system would need to start out small – ideally with a short commuter corridor that had potential for TOD. Houston’s South Corridor is a strong candidate. Would you like to be able get from Pearland to the Texas Medical center in 12 minutes? Come take a look.
Houston – Part 2
Today let’s look at Part 2 of the Houston regional rail system – the Gulf Corridor. This corridor is the big one in the news lately, and rightly so. It’s the primary link between the region’s two major historical centers (Houston and Galveston), and features a number of major institutions and attractions along the way. So how effectively can we connect it?
Houston – Part 3
To finish laying the framework for inter-city rail, we need a regional corridor that serves Northwest Houston. Today we’ll take a look at the Northwest Corridor, and see what it looks like when we tie this in to the rest of the system.
The Brazos Corridor
Continuing our look at High-Speed Rail in Texas, today we’re getting to the fun part: intercity travel. As you recall in the long series of previous posts, for the sake of this series I’m imagining a privately owned and operated rail system. As a private enterprise, the rail system would need to start small, building [...]
The Capital Corridor
Today let’s look at the next branch of the Texas High-Speed Rail main lines: the Capital Corridor. This connection, running from San Antonio to Austin, offers one of the best opportunities for regional rail as a precursor to a state-wide high-speed system.
The North Texas Corridor
Today let’s take a look at how High-Speed Rail service could connect to North Texas. The Dallas/Fort Worth area is one of the more interesting places to consider rail deployment, because they’ve got by far the most existing rail service. How can a new regional rail line lay the foundation for future statewide high-speed service?
The Mini Triangle
Today we’re going to wrap up our look at a hypothetical Texas-High Speed Rail system. We’ve already looked at the how a privately operated high-speed system could start as a regional rail service in the major cities, now we’re going to see how these regional lines can interconnect and form a more complete system.
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