Texas' $30BN High-Speed Railway from Dallas to Houston

[Hoofbite]

Not being from Texas I have no opinion on whether this project makes sense or not. But I completely understand why people are generally cynical about projects like this. There are lots of well-meaning projects that turned out to be money pits for a number of states, and taxpayers are on the hook for those projects. Once built, taxpayers will be paying for any revenue shortfall forever. 100,000 people per week sounds like a lot of people but here in NJ over 300,000 cars per day cross the George Washington Bridge, and yet NY and NJ continue to raise the tolls which is now over $15 for peak hours for a car, and can be over $125 for a 6 axle truck.

I don't know how much they plan to charge for people to take the high speed rail in Texas, but if it is $25 for example and all 100,000 people use the train system, it will take 230 years to pay off the initial $30 billion. That's assuming all 100,000 per week take the train. In reality the number will probably be much fewer.

I don't think you can necessarily look solely at the direct economic impact when dealing with something like mass transportation because it's likely the indirect economic impacts are far greater in the long run. Fewer cars means less wear and tear on the roads and reduced repair costs or frequency of repairs. Fewer cars means better commute times. Granted you likely won't see significant improvements there from a single line but when built out to encompass better local means of transportation it all adds up.

Most public works cost something and plenty of them generate nothing. Turning a large plot of land into a park isn't going to generate revenue worth writing home about, if any at all. Maintaining foothills and public access to land doesn't generate revenue but it gives people activities and adds to quality of life. Cutting a commute in half or up to 1/3rd would be a quality of life improvement. Time saved, reliability, cost, and not having to operate a vehicle. Those are worthwhile things.

I would like to see rail work somewhere. I don't care where.

 

[Rockport]

a few points points...

only 8 crossing of the trinity river exist between Dallas county and where the Trinity
becomes Lake Livingston. So IMO the closer to the Trinity the rail can run
the less useful land the government will have to "acquire".

How do you deer proof, cow proof, pig proof, egret proof, cormorant proof,
250 miles of track in East Texas??? Without making it completely elevated raising
the cost substantially???

Unless reliable, clean, safe public transportation exist to connect the stations
to the rest of the city it won't be used much making it a ANOTHER waste of
tax dollars.

The trains that I've used on my one trip to Europe have been running forever,
everyone that uses them have been using them their whole lives.

It's cultural

Once the trains are built it will literally take decades of subsidies
(making the initial investment look like couch money)
to keep them from going under until lifestyles adjust.

Progress stopping is those who look for reasons to stop progress instead of looking for reasons to make it work.

 

[Rockport]

Florida is building Brightline train stops/tracks along the east coast and to Orlando. So Miami-Orlando.
Prices were reasonable at first but it's shot up to the point where it's not worth it factoring in the prices per seat and parking to go to Orlando.
Remembering looking up Palm Beach to Miami for a cruise and it was almost half the cost to just drive to Miami and pay the parking fee.

Felt like a ploy to get a 2nd track for the freight trains

It’s Florida.

 

[Rockport]

Should contract with China on this one, price would be 1/4 of the $30B and it would be completed in 12 months!

And collapse in 12 months.

 

[gtb1943]

Loool, you’ll be gone soon.

I will hang around just to laugh at you

 

[gtb1943]

It’s Florida.

Yep, best run state in the Union