Texas Could Get a 205-MPH Bullet Train Zipping Between Houston and Dallas - Slas...
source link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/08/11/0211237/texas-could-get-a-205-mph-bullet-train-zipping-between-houston-and-dallas
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Texas Could Get a 205-MPH Bullet Train Zipping Between Houston and Dallas
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Ok so in all seriousness they need to look at what California did, and do the opposite. For starters, make the destinations somewhere important in the actual city, not "train to nowhere" like in Cal. The "the plebes will happily take the train to Modesto because of the carbon footprint it saves" approach will not actually sell train tickets. Connect to football stadiums and it will probably be profitable once the logo rights are sold, before passengers even start riding. Onboard Longhorn network or ESPN pay-per-view or something would probably help.
Next, hire actual transportation experts to do the planning, not politician's friends who line up at the trough to start chomping on political doleouts. And when people bring up objections and problems, try to resolve it instead of just bulldozing over them. (And then when the project implodes, go around saying it was the fault of all those naysayers, and oh yeah also they were kinda right about all the problems, but it was their fault for not convincing us they were on our side)
Lets see did I miss anything? Oh yeah, don't spend money until you meet the conditions for spending that money, there will be less political favors to call in to keep the legal sharks at bay.
ps, 205mph? Setting the bar a little low aren't we?
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I have more chance of going to the moon than Texas spending many billions of dollars on high speed Train Travel
In much of the rest of the world High Speed Trains go direct from city centre to city centre to cut down the last mile problem as much as possible plus when you get there you have onward travel options like train, bus, tram, taxi or even car depending on how far you need to go. The US rarely has anything but car and distances once you get off the train are often considerably further.
And you still h
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If I arrive at the airport, I have no problem justifying a taxi to my office / hotel. If I arrive at a centrally located train station I may still have a last mile to travel. I'm a indoors person, so even 10 minutes outside is unattractive, especially given the USA's horrible climate...
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I'm not super optimistic about Americans embracing mass transit but you have to start somewhere. Have a HSR terminal downtown and you can start building out a tram/bus network out from the hub.
Trains do seem to work pretty well where I've tried them - Portland-Seattle and NYC-DC. But those are also the most "city" cities in the US.
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There are already busses that travel from city to city. They have internet on board and are fairly nice and very reasonably priced.
However, there are two problems.
1) Time to travel. It is so much faster to travel by plane and Southwest flies relatively inexpensively between Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas. What is your time worth? I rather spend 1 hour flying from San Antonio to either city than 4-5 hours. I used to make the Houston to San Antonio flight every week. I could get to the airport about 1-
Airports have their own issues. Without a ride to and fro, you need transportation to get there. If you start the trip in your car, now you must pay to park the thing and it isn't a one time fee, you pay for every day. Then there is the sardine trip where you get packed into a tin can with others...and possibly the idiot next to you who insists on carrying on a conversation with you so that all the zephyrs in his/her brain get properly aired out.
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Airports have their own issues. Without a ride to and fro, you need transportation to get there.
Don't most people just Uber to/from the airport, or maybe have someone they know pickup/drop off these days?
I can't remember the last time I drove myself to the airport...had to be at least a couple decades ago.
A couple of Uber rides are cheaper than paying for long term parking for the most part...so, why bother?
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The Northeast is already that somewhere.
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Oh, I'm sure then can spend the money. Actually building anything is a different story.
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I have more chance of going to the moon than Texas spending many billions of dollars on high speed Train Travel
Yeah, but there's "several federal grant programs" to help finance research and design costs.
I think we know where this is headed.
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It's interesting how some countries have lost the ability to build infrastructure. The UK is another one, been trying to build HSR for decades.
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Decades? There's a train between St Pancras (UK) and Paris that would like to have a word with you.
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Most train stations are not in city centers, not even in Europe unless the city is very young. Older cities all drop you off at the city's edges, because the city center is occupied with ancient buildings and does not have the necessary infrastructure to support a train station, let alone a high speed train (which only goes to airports and large stations near select cities).
There is no New York City or Los Angeles style city in the EU, most cities can be walked through in a day, even Brussels (12 sq. miles)
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As long as we're dreaming...
Before they spend a penny on HSR, if the new line is going to use any existing right-of-way, make sure the existing line is fully grade-separated and electrified first.
I have repeatedly posted on this issue in other forums. California's HSR has blood on it hands. Caltrain in the Bay Area has been killing at grade crossings while they fiddle. Yes, some of them have been suicides that would have found another way; but others have been merely impatient and while we can fully blame them I don't think the penalty for impatience should be immediate death. Finally, one young man who was distracted by headphones stands out in my mind--just 18, temporarily lost awareness, dead. Don't think it could happen to you? Think again.
Grade crossings kill. Plain and simple. Grade should have been separated years ago, and wasn't. Grade separation is a prerequisite for HSR anyway, and would have been money well spent even if the whole project was never completed.
Now here we are with neither grade separation nor HSR.
Yes, Texas. Do the opposite. Boy howdy, the most opposite you can on this one.
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For car drivers the penalty for impatience has been death for decades and they seem to be fine with it. Don't see how railway crossings change anything in this equation.
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I don't know of any other country has a similar problem with level crossings... certainly none of the developed ones. The simple fact is, if the red lights are flashing and the barrier is down, don't cross the tracks. Easy, no?
If drivers are getting impatient and ignoring the barriers, bells and flashing lights that's not a problem with the railways, that's a problem with piss poor driver training and a culture of utter entitlement.
As you mentioned, the price of fucking around with train crossings is
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All of the dedicated HSR segments currently under construction are fully grade separated.
On the Caltrain corridor where the bullet train shares tracks with regular trains, it will slow down to 125 mph at grade crossings that have an "impenetrable barrier" that blocks highway traffic when train approaches. And they will slow down further to 110 mph at regular grade crossings, if those still exist.
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Anytime you are distracted while driving can lead to deaths and often that includes the deaths of innocent others when you collide with them. At least with a train, the inattentive driver is unlikely to claim any other victims.
Suppose the examples of impatience and inattentiveness had happened at some traffic lights instead? You'd now be looking at the deaths of innocents as well as the idiot driver. Removing level crossings will not change the fact that the penalty for extreme impatience or inattentive
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205 MPH is 330 KPH, which is faster than any other regularly operating service AFAIK. The Japanese trains are certified for continual operation that fast, but most of them run around 270 KPH due to noise concerns. The French TGV operates regularly at 320 KPH.
We know how to build trains that go faster, and Japan has its maglev under construction which will start at 600 KPH and go up from there. The issue is noise, especially when exiting tunnels. Most of the maglev line will be tunnels, so it only needs to slow down as it exits them. I'm no expert on Texas geography but a quick look at the maps suggests that Texas might be able to locate the track away from populated areas and add some sound dampening.
When you look at the Shinkansen in Japan, it's a great way to travel. They come every 15 minutes, they are comfortable, and the pricing is competitive with driving on toll highways. Of course public transport is joined up, so when you get off you can get right onto a local train or bus. They have car hire places at the stations too.
They make a good alternative to short haul flights too.
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I was thinking of the 400 kph model. It's still on wheels, not talking about maglev which still has a few 'technical innovation goes here' spots in the implementation technology. I mean, the maglev test trains actually do run, the cake just isn't done baking so to speak.
California made a big mistake by not partnering with Nevada to start with a (greater)Los Angeles - Las Vegas HSR. No reservation required, get to vegas/back from vegas in an hour could be a real popular travel choice, and made reality at a r
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What is left to do with the maglev trains? Japan has been running them on the test track, with passengers, for some years now. The design is solid and seems to be reliable.
Wheeled trains have other issues above ~320 KPH. It becomes increasingly difficult to dampen vibrations in the bogies, and wear on the track increases. The pantographs are a problem too, with more wear and more noise. The linear shinkansen is powered by induction so there is no contact with anything.
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It's still on wheels, not talking about maglev which still has a few 'technical innovation goes here' spots in the implementation technology.
Just lol.We have them since decades. I guess the Shanghai - Peking connection is FAR over then ten years old. German technology developed in the 1970s!! Oh, I checked: it was taken into operation 2002. But only 30km long. Currently they are building (or still planning?) a 1000km long one.
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205 MPH is 330 KPH, which is faster than any other regularly operating service AFAIK.
"ICE 3 trains operate at the national maximum high-speed railways track speed of 320km/h in Germany, but have pipped their competition in this list due to the fact that the class 403 is authorised to run at speeds of 330km/h [railway-technology.com] on the high-speed line between Frankfurt and Cologne to overcome delays."
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Erm, the French trains go 340 - 380km/h. And so do the German ones: on French tracks. "Speed Records" are higher.
The Japanese Trains go 500km and faster.-
Those are maximum theoretical speeds, but in daily operation Japanese shinkansen are limited to 320 KPH and only on part of the line. They mostly operate at a maximum of 270 KPH. The main limiting factor is noise.
The new maglev shinkansen will operate at 600 KPH initially, but that is expected to rise. Noise is less of an issue because over 90% of the track between Tokyo and Osaka will be tunnels under mountains. It just has to slow down before exiting the tunnel, or the shockwave is like a bullet leaving t
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Hey, the bullhorn up front won't stay on if you go much faster
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ps, 205mph? Setting the bar a little low aren't we?
Hey, the bullhorn up front won't stay on if you go much faster
Not to mention the truck nuts in the back. This is Texas, after all.
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So many Californian moved to Texas that they will run this project exactly how they did in California. They're turning Texas into California's sequel. No lessons learned, no changes in behavior or preferences. Just the desire to colonize a new area.
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And look at for example the Eurostar. It is OK for it to run "slow" alongside the RER for for the last few km into central Paris.
But note that "slow" is about 180km/h (110mph). Most of the route is 320km/h (200mph).
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For starters, make the destinations somewhere important in the actual city, not "train to nowhere" like in Cal.
A requirement for federal funding was that it be constructed in segments that each have "independent utility" meaning that the segment can be used by other operators if the HSR line isn't completed. So at the very least the money we are spending will get freight trains out of the way of cars.
But yes, this kind of risk reduction practically invites people who oppose or don't understand HSR to call
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Assuming that the train will be a Diesel... and not an over the head electric one: ps, 205mph? Setting the bar a little low aren't we? That is roughly 330km/h. Nothing to be disappointed about. While German trains are faster: there are not many rail tracks/km of track in Germany where they are much faster:P Yes, there much faster trains, e.g. new German trains running in, uh, oh France:P or the French trains, or the Japanese.
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California High Speed Rail did EXACTLY the job it was meant to do, lining the pocket of the pocket of the right people. Diane Feinstein's husband made many millions out of the project.
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First off, I think we should all aknoldge that "could" in this headline invokes Betteridge's, or really the headline should be "Texas wont get a 200 MPH railroad".
200 MPH is quite fast for a train. In fact after that you start to run into a lot of difficulties with aerodynamic and it takes more power just to overcome air resistance (often more than it's worth). The faster you go, the more energy you require to move the mass. Rails need to be rated for it and rigorously maintained and there's the safety issu
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Build the stations in the city centre.
This probably isn't going to happen with Houston and Dallas, TX....I mean, that would involve tearing down a LOT of buildings and highway structures that make up and surround down town...these are very large sprawling cities, and that's not even taking into consideration the large already filled to the brim suburbs surrounding them.
These are extremely large, developed cities....so, at best the trains' endpoints will be at more or less city edges. But that's likely no
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With all due respect, the opposite is to recognize it's not going to happen.
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