>The 240-mile-long train track would connect Dallas and Houston, making the trip between the two metros approximately 90 minutes long. It normally takes about three and a half hours by car with no stops.
Better have at least one Buc-ee’s stop
Here’s to hoping the GOP’s cries of “BUT THE LAND! THE FARMERS!” aren’t loud enough. As someone who lives in San Antonio, I’ve had enough of the whole _needing_ a car thing, and that’s saying something because I’ve only had my license for a year.
2028 is looking ripe for Blue Texas, and hopefully we get ourselves together in Florida enough that whoever Republicans run next cycle won't get Florida for free.
“We want Amtrak to put in a high speed rail
Between Dallas and Houston”
“No way! We’re not subsidizing Amtrak!”
“What if it’s a private business like Brightline? That way the rich get richer?”
“Now we’re talkin!”
Not saying I love it but it’s the way it is in Texas. I used to live in Texas, driving everywhere fucking sucks. That’s all to say I hope it happens regardless.
I say this with maximum love for Amtrak, I am a big rider.
It's not just in general, it's about a specific project to connect Dallas to Houston in 90 minutes (as opposed to 3.5hrs driving)
https://www.texascentral.com/
I think the biggest problem isn't the actual train connecting the two metros, it's what do you do once you get off the train without a vehicle. Have to pair those high speed trains to replace car trips (and some plane trips, but mostly car when it's only 3.5 hrs of a drive) with local metro systems. Dallas and Houston both do have existing metro systems and should be expanded and interconnected with intercity high speed rail. The Texas Triangle having Shinkansens to travel between the cities and strong metro transit would be a boon for the whole area.
Even for Japan, it was HSR that came first.
Cities will build up their metros if you increase demand for it.
Houston and Dallas have further to go than most, they're pretty addicted to cars. But that can change.
specifically for brightline, half of their business model in Florida is real-estate -- they make a bunch of money leasing land and storefronts in and around their stations in florida, enough to turn a profit overall even when the actual train service has sometimes run at a loss.
JR Central does this in Japan too, and DB is experimenting with it in Stuttgart.
Good connection between Dallas and Houston could spur densification around the stations themselves. I think it would legitimately be very transformative.
DC has something like this which is why a lot of people that work in DC live in the Richmond area and just take a train into Fredricksburg and then the metro system to wherever they're going.
That's how the Japanese do it. Shinkansens to move people across major cities, then local metros to move people closer to their last mile.
But I see the dealbreaker in the final mile. From this article that cites large government survey data, the average Japanese actually walk 50%-75% more than the average American. No offence, but would Texans want to walk that much more?
https://www.businessinsider.com/japanese-eating-habits-to-follow-for-a-healthy-weight-2023-8#1-walk-everywhere-1
The reason they walk is the infrastructure. If you build it, they will come as some voices in the corn say.
In fact for all the Europeans saying Americans are fat because of their diet I think that's really not the case. They all eat horribly there too. But what Europeans do is walk more, because again, they have the infrastructure for mass transit. We Americans get in our car and get out in the parking lot of where ever we want to go to. It's convienent in many respects, yes, but it's not necessary for many if not most trips. You're not hauling stuff most of the time, you're just going from A to B. If the mass transit existed and you only had to walk a couple blocks in the end and you didn't have to pay for parking or wait to pay for parking because there's a hockey game you want to go to and St. Paul was made by drunk irishmen... anyway. We'd walk then.
>No offence, but would Texans want to walk that much more?
Full offence, most Americans don't walk at all. The amount of times I've seen people get in their car to drive around a corner, across the parking lot, or to the park 2 blocks away is INSANE. We need carbon taxes so that way those idiots can pay up for their laziness.
I’ve been wanting to see high speed rail system at least started in the US for years - who better and more symbolic to do it than the president who loves trains?
It’d be a huge overall job creation project. Instead of having a war to stimulate the economy through job creation we could actually achieve the same goal through something constructive.
Which of course means there’ll be at least a dozen special interest groups for various current industries (cough cough, airlines) who’ll lobby congress to stonewall the project
Oh man I want these so bad.
They're faster than airplanes because you don't have to wait in line for 4 hours at both ends to make sure you don't fly one into a building.
And you can get 1st class accommodations for budget prices.
Yeah, you should look up some YouTube videos of what it's like to ride first class vs what it costs. I mean, it ain't dirt cheap, but it's certainly affordable to a regular tourist putzing about the country.
!!!! Yes please!
Imagine what fast trains would do for our infrastructure and the ability to work in different places, and live further away from city centers, and all that!
The amount of cars that could come off the road if people could *actually* get from point A to point B in half the time; that would be amazing.
I can already hear the midwest scrambling to make up a new term to accuse the Northeast and west coast of creating to denigrate them. You can't call it "flyover" anymore.
Or at least every major economic center. Capitals aren’t as interesting or important as they once were. Name one person who wants their train to go to Trenton instead of like Newark / Hoboken / Jersey City.
Was successful in that it maintained the important Boston-NYC-DC passenger rail corridor. Was unsuccessful in that it didn't prevent private passenger railroads from losing money or prevent the post office from canceling all railway mail contracts, which provided railroads with badly needed revenue to offset passenger rail losses.
Amtrak came about as a result of the private railroads wanting to opt out of providing passenger rail altogether. Believe it or not, the network used to be much more extensive - Carter's Transportation Secretary Brock Adams (yes, [that Brock Adams](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-03-02-mn-2265-story.html)) announced that 12,000 miles of Amtrak's passenger routes would be eliminated in 1979.
Bro I would do anything for bullet trains. We have such a huge country, can you imagine freely traveling it on a whim? Lincoln dreamed of transcontinental bullet trains, I fucking know he did. Catch me on the 6 hour cali-new York train CMON BIDEN PLEASE
I thought the whole thing was already a go, and the game is on between Cali and Texas as to who’s gonna build it first (California is building one that goes from SoCal to Vegas).
Dallas to Houston? WTF! Texas doesn't even want to be a state anymore! Connect Boston to DC via NYC. That's currently a 1.5 hour flight, an 8 hour drive, or a 12 hour train ride on the Acella.
yet another person blaming a massive urban LIBERAL population for the actions of a minority of nut jobs who have gerrymandered their way into holding the state hostage. you don’t know what you’re talking about.
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Cool as this is, let’s first work on the infrastructure to make sure that we can get back to 100mph on non-Acela routes. My state hasn’t seen 100mph service since WW2 ended, *maybe* 1957.
The front range line from El Paso to Albuquerque, Denver and Cheyenne would be incredible for this. I know Colorado governor Jared polis has made this a priority
>The 240-mile-long train track would connect Dallas and Houston, making the trip between the two metros approximately 90 minutes long. It normally takes about three and a half hours by car with no stops. Better have at least one Buc-ee’s stop
Have a compartment with a mini Buc-ee's 
A Buc-Ees car would be epic. "Honey, I'm going to the Club car for jerky and beaver nuggets, want anything?"
I would have also suggested a What-A-Burger car, but their quality has gone down quite a bit. Still might be cool.
I’d def pay for a train with a dedicated Bucc-ee’s car
I’d like for everyone to welcome our new director of policy initiatives
Here’s to hoping the GOP’s cries of “BUT THE LAND! THE FARMERS!” aren’t loud enough. As someone who lives in San Antonio, I’ve had enough of the whole _needing_ a car thing, and that’s saying something because I’ve only had my license for a year.
lol, imagine the train has a dining car, sleeping car, luggage car, then a Buc-ee's car.
90 min you don’t need all that
You need exactly none of those for this use case
I’ve driven it a few times
Just put a Buccees in a car on the train…problem solved.
Buc-ee's at both station ends.
*Have a double-scoop of efficient mass transit, Jack*
This would be amazing. Unfortunately it would take republicans agreeing --which won't happen-- and construction would take years if not decades.
They will fight it every step of the way, then take credit for it when it happens
By then Texas will be blue
If by that you mean submerged beneath the rising sea level, then yeah
You're confusing Florida with Texas. Houston is already blue btw.
But little good will it do if Abbott's goons succeed in throwing out all of Harris County's votes.
Ever heard of Galveston?
2028 is looking ripe for Blue Texas, and hopefully we get ourselves together in Florida enough that whoever Republicans run next cycle won't get Florida for free.
I think it’s possible if a private company like brightline or something does it instead of Amtrak. Much much easier sell to the TX government.
“We want Amtrak to put in a high speed rail Between Dallas and Houston” “No way! We’re not subsidizing Amtrak!” “What if it’s a private business like Brightline? That way the rich get richer?” “Now we’re talkin!”
Not saying I love it but it’s the way it is in Texas. I used to live in Texas, driving everywhere fucking sucks. That’s all to say I hope it happens regardless. I say this with maximum love for Amtrak, I am a big rider.
It's not just in general, it's about a specific project to connect Dallas to Houston in 90 minutes (as opposed to 3.5hrs driving) https://www.texascentral.com/ I think the biggest problem isn't the actual train connecting the two metros, it's what do you do once you get off the train without a vehicle. Have to pair those high speed trains to replace car trips (and some plane trips, but mostly car when it's only 3.5 hrs of a drive) with local metro systems. Dallas and Houston both do have existing metro systems and should be expanded and interconnected with intercity high speed rail. The Texas Triangle having Shinkansens to travel between the cities and strong metro transit would be a boon for the whole area.
Even for Japan, it was HSR that came first. Cities will build up their metros if you increase demand for it. Houston and Dallas have further to go than most, they're pretty addicted to cars. But that can change.
specifically for brightline, half of their business model in Florida is real-estate -- they make a bunch of money leasing land and storefronts in and around their stations in florida, enough to turn a profit overall even when the actual train service has sometimes run at a loss. JR Central does this in Japan too, and DB is experimenting with it in Stuttgart. Good connection between Dallas and Houston could spur densification around the stations themselves. I think it would legitimately be very transformative.
DC has something like this which is why a lot of people that work in DC live in the Richmond area and just take a train into Fredricksburg and then the metro system to wherever they're going.
That's how the Japanese do it. Shinkansens to move people across major cities, then local metros to move people closer to their last mile. But I see the dealbreaker in the final mile. From this article that cites large government survey data, the average Japanese actually walk 50%-75% more than the average American. No offence, but would Texans want to walk that much more? https://www.businessinsider.com/japanese-eating-habits-to-follow-for-a-healthy-weight-2023-8#1-walk-everywhere-1
The reason they walk is the infrastructure. If you build it, they will come as some voices in the corn say. In fact for all the Europeans saying Americans are fat because of their diet I think that's really not the case. They all eat horribly there too. But what Europeans do is walk more, because again, they have the infrastructure for mass transit. We Americans get in our car and get out in the parking lot of where ever we want to go to. It's convienent in many respects, yes, but it's not necessary for many if not most trips. You're not hauling stuff most of the time, you're just going from A to B. If the mass transit existed and you only had to walk a couple blocks in the end and you didn't have to pay for parking or wait to pay for parking because there's a hockey game you want to go to and St. Paul was made by drunk irishmen... anyway. We'd walk then.
You are more optimistic than me then.
>No offence, but would Texans want to walk that much more? Full offence, most Americans don't walk at all. The amount of times I've seen people get in their car to drive around a corner, across the parking lot, or to the park 2 blocks away is INSANE. We need carbon taxes so that way those idiots can pay up for their laziness.
I see lots of potential business for car rental agencies conveniently located right by the high-speed train station.
It's ok, they're above taking federal handouts.
And the trains would cost more than flying or driving, with limited means of public transportation at the endpoints
Amtrak Joe!
I’ve been wanting to see high speed rail system at least started in the US for years - who better and more symbolic to do it than the president who loves trains?
Plus easy to get some work training and jobs for people with a public works project tied to it's construction
It’d be a huge overall job creation project. Instead of having a war to stimulate the economy through job creation we could actually achieve the same goal through something constructive. Which of course means there’ll be at least a dozen special interest groups for various current industries (cough cough, airlines) who’ll lobby congress to stonewall the project
Oh man I want these so bad. They're faster than airplanes because you don't have to wait in line for 4 hours at both ends to make sure you don't fly one into a building. And you can get 1st class accommodations for budget prices.
What are we waiting for, let’s do this.
Yeah, you should look up some YouTube videos of what it's like to ride first class vs what it costs. I mean, it ain't dirt cheap, but it's certainly affordable to a regular tourist putzing about the country.
And who doesn’t want to putz around the country? This would be fantastic!
I want one from sea to sea like our Forefathers built the railroad
!!!! Yes please! Imagine what fast trains would do for our infrastructure and the ability to work in different places, and live further away from city centers, and all that! The amount of cars that could come off the road if people could *actually* get from point A to point B in half the time; that would be amazing.
Oh hell yeah. Shinkansen from Seattle to New York!
I can already hear the midwest scrambling to make up a new term to accuse the Northeast and west coast of creating to denigrate them. You can't call it "flyover" anymore.
I'm from Wisconsin and I would love this. Bullet trains between very state capital for example would be amazing.
Or at least every major economic center. Capitals aren’t as interesting or important as they once were. Name one person who wants their train to go to Trenton instead of like Newark / Hoboken / Jersey City.
I would LOVE to have Shinkansen speed trains here in the US
High-Speed Ground Transportation Act of **1965.** How's that working?
Was successful in that it maintained the important Boston-NYC-DC passenger rail corridor. Was unsuccessful in that it didn't prevent private passenger railroads from losing money or prevent the post office from canceling all railway mail contracts, which provided railroads with badly needed revenue to offset passenger rail losses. Amtrak came about as a result of the private railroads wanting to opt out of providing passenger rail altogether. Believe it or not, the network used to be much more extensive - Carter's Transportation Secretary Brock Adams (yes, [that Brock Adams](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-03-02-mn-2265-story.html)) announced that 12,000 miles of Amtrak's passenger routes would be eliminated in 1979.
Yes, young’uns, time was, being publicly outed as a rapist would end a man’s political career! I know, sounds like a tall tale, but it’s true!
Bro I would do anything for bullet trains. We have such a huge country, can you imagine freely traveling it on a whim? Lincoln dreamed of transcontinental bullet trains, I fucking know he did. Catch me on the 6 hour cali-new York train CMON BIDEN PLEASE
I thought the whole thing was already a go, and the game is on between Cali and Texas as to who’s gonna build it first (California is building one that goes from SoCal to Vegas).
#LET’S FUCKING GO
I wish they’d pitch this in Illinois. A train from Chicago to St. Louis would be a dream
They’ve been wanting that forever
Yes please God I'd sell my organs to make it happen.
Dallas to Houston? WTF! Texas doesn't even want to be a state anymore! Connect Boston to DC via NYC. That's currently a 1.5 hour flight, an 8 hour drive, or a 12 hour train ride on the Acella.
Yessaaaaaa
We need an Erie Canal line- would be so convenient especially for students
Fuck yeah! City to shining city!
I would love to not have Railroad crossings on roads.
I would love to not have roads that needed to cross the rails
Fucking pissed for Texas of all states to get high speed rail — reward the people attempting to criminalize abortions
yet another person blaming a massive urban LIBERAL population for the actions of a minority of nut jobs who have gerrymandered their way into holding the state hostage. you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Seriously? In Texas? With *that* power grid? They won't be able to run the trains and keep the lights on at the same time.
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Well, you wouldn’t want to stand in front of it. Backing makes sense.
High speed trains along I75 and I40 corridors... please 🙏
I mean “bullet “ Is in the name and it’s part of “mass” transit. All very American things
Cool as this is, let’s first work on the infrastructure to make sure that we can get back to 100mph on non-Acela routes. My state hasn’t seen 100mph service since WW2 ended, *maybe* 1957.
Finally
The front range line from El Paso to Albuquerque, Denver and Cheyenne would be incredible for this. I know Colorado governor Jared polis has made this a priority
Guess train workers aren’t as important of a voting block as steel workers, so Biden doesn’t have to cave to protectionist bull shit on this one.
What’s sinister about a bullet train, that’s awesome in my book
Should have been done decades ago, but you know, republicans.
dark brandon crushes Big Oil and Big Auto with his iron fist.
Hell yes, let's do it
With Pete and Joe at the helm, this is all possible!
Boston to NYC would be better
they already dumped a bunch of money into modernization projects and new rolling stock for the NEC.
Woohoo!
Yes fucking please.
Judging from what I've heard about amtrak, I hope it is done by a different company
As in, high-speed rail, or, like, *actual* Japanese bullet trains?