Sumlins Pool Guy said:
I feel like half the guys here make this argument and the other half make the "but we've got south west airlines" argument. And the SWA crowd seems to have figured out how to take Ubers from hobby to their meetings in downtown why can't rail passengers do the same. If the states population is going to double in the next 50 years it seems like having more ways to move people around is a good thing.
Cinco Ranch Aggie said:So if we're playing games with user names, then I guess you love a bunch of people stacked on top of each other in tiny apartments with rampant crime on the rail systems, with no easy access to private transportation?Manhattan said:Cinco Ranch Aggie said:If this train puts down so much as one drop of concrete on any ranch or farm land between Houston and Dallas, then the land owners have lost land. That poster is flat out lying.AlaskanAg99 said:Manhattan said:
Nobody would be losing any land.
So then why is eminent domain needed?
Oh no, a viaduct running through farm and ranch land… unlike the neighborhoods we are bulldozing for I45 and other highway in the US.
But seeing your username, you must really love highways.
Great. But the reality is that a subway/regional rail will never work where I live. The Houston metro area is simply too big. I have access to the bus system when I need to go to downtown Houston, a rarity, but there is no option that would take me to my office at City Centre (I-10 @ Beltway 8). Thanks, but I will keep my truck.Manhattan said:Cinco Ranch Aggie said:So if we're playing games with user names, then I guess you love a bunch of people stacked on top of each other in tiny apartments with rampant crime on the rail systems, with no easy access to private transportation?Manhattan said:Cinco Ranch Aggie said:If this train puts down so much as one drop of concrete on any ranch or farm land between Houston and Dallas, then the land owners have lost land. That poster is flat out lying.AlaskanAg99 said:Manhattan said:
Nobody would be losing any land.
So then why is eminent domain needed?
Oh no, a viaduct running through farm and ranch land… unlike the neighborhoods we are bulldozing for I45 and other highway in the US.
But seeing your username, you must really love highways.
Love my "tiny" apartment, Crime here is low compared to your metro area, and, I live within 10m of two of the busiest interstates in the country if i so choose to drive my car. But having a subway and regional rail is amazing.
Manhattan said:
Well it would have worked but they literally took down train tracks to build the widest freeway in the world so people could still sit in traffic.
Manhattan said:
Well it would have worked but they literally took down train tracks to build the widest freeway in the world so people could still sit in traffic.
Manhattan said:
50% according to the website.
If you're arguing that through eminent domain the landowner will be compensated then you would be somewhat correct here.Manhattan said:
Nobody would be losing any land.
Buck Turgidson said:
This train is never coming. Its just a pipe dream that resurfaces every 1-2 years with new headlines and no action. Seems like I've been hearing about it for more than a decade.
RafterAg223 said:
There's really no point in engaging Lot Y, Shanked, Manhattan on anything anymore. It's a losing proposition. He's proven here that he's an O&G reservoir engineer, oil and gas production engineer, agricultural machinery expert, renewable energy expert, European culture expert, healthcare expert, and now mass transit expert.
Correct. Also, we figured out pages ago on this thread that this is a non-story from last summer, and this organization is dead, unable to pay their taxes due this week even.RafterAg223 said:
There's really no point in engaging Lot Y, Shanked, Manhattan on anything anymore. It's a losing proposition. He's proven here that he's an O&G reservoir engineer, oil and gas production engineer, agricultural machinery expert, renewable energy expert, European culture expert, healthcare expert, and now mass transit expert.
Ever heard of Kelo vs City of New London??Old Army Ghost said:lolAggieCo2023 said:
Texas Central is a PRIVATE company… why you hate capitalism?
private companies dont get eminent domain
policywonk98 said:
I'm bored so I decided to run some numbers.
Japan is the world's oldest and most advanced bullet train system.
According to news reports from the last 4-5 years, the train companies in the system have massive debts and unfunded pension liability.
The geography and population density of Japan make it one the best if not the absolute best candidate in the world for a bullet train use case.
So I wanted to gain a comparative perspective between Japan and Texas.
Japan is 55% the size of Texas with 124 million population. Their pop density is 854 per square mile. But this doesn't actually tell the true story of Japanese pop density. 70% of Japan is mountainous terrain. Over 90% of Japan's population exists within its urban areas that exist in the 30% of the country that is most habitible.
So Tokyo for instance, has a population density of 16,000 per square mile. Houston by comparison is 3,000 per square mile.
To put this level of density in perspective with Texas. Our state population would have to be 224 million people with 90% of that population living in just 30% of the state.
I don't even like Texas with 29 million people. There is no scenario where me and my family would live here with over 200 million, but I digress.
Just another reminder. Japan's rail system is not profitable. I did not do extensive research, but it appears that in a nearly 60 year history it's only been a cash positive enterprise for less than 10 years and the debts are now accumulating even faster. Lots of government bailouts just like with our own Frankentrain monster called Amtrak.
So why would anyone ever think this is a good idea?
Seems alot like communism/socialism. Utopian dreamers that beleive "this time it will work better".
Aggie_Boomin 21 said:Manhattan said:
Well it would have worked but they literally took down train tracks to build the widest freeway in the world so people could still sit in traffic.
Houston metro is more than double the size of NYC metro. You're wrong
Admiral Adama said:
Southwest round-trip Lovefield to Hobby $240.
Bullet train $30B / $240 = 125,000,000 round trips.
DFW and Houston metro combined populations: 15 million
Round trips per person: 8.3
For the same cost as building the bullet train we could give every single person living in the Houston and Dallas metros eight round trip flights on Southwest. What a bargain for the Texas tax payer.
1. We're not Europe.forJO said:Admiral Adama said:
Southwest round-trip Lovefield to Hobby $240.
Bullet train $30B / $240 = 125,000,000 round trips.
DFW and Houston metro combined populations: 15 million
Round trips per person: 8.3
For the same cost as building the bullet train we could give every single person living in the Houston and Dallas metros eight round trip flights on Southwest. What a bargain for the Texas tax payer.
While I probably shouldn't wade into this thread because I no longer live in Texas nor will this train impact me in anyway. But I feel this argument is flawed because you have not included the costs to the public to build Love Field or Hobby. While those are already sunk costs it doesn't change the fact that those airports cost tremendous amounts of money, and take up a lot of land, that should be factored into this argument, in the same way the cost of the future train ticket per person should be factored into the argument. I know in Europe when I visited 20 years ago the high speed trains were more expensive than low cost airlines. But the train ride was faster (especially when adding in times to drive to the airport, security, waiting, etc. ) but the train had more frequent travel options and was a much better way to see the country.
I feel the same when hearing people argue train service is not profitable. But yet they don't include the incredible amount of money spent to build and maintain roads and the interstate highway system. If you include these costs for highways then you could also argue driving an automobile is not "profitable".
As I said this train in Texas does not affect me and I don't have an opinion about if this train should be built or not. But I felt compelled to point out a different side of the argument.
YokelRidesAgain said:OK, let's review. Say I live in, for example, Friendswood (thoughts and prayers for me) and want to go to College Station for the weekend.AggieCo2023 said:
You don't think the city can run a shuttle from the train station to campus/downtown? Hell they run a shuttle from the mall to Santa's wonderland lol
I'm going to spend an hour driving to NW Houston, parking, and making sure I'm on time for the train, then pay what, $25, to park my car plus $100 for my round trip train ticket?
Then I ride the choo-choo for 25 minutes and hop off for my 30 minute shuttle ride to College Station (assuming the shuttle is there when I get there, of course). In the time already spent, I could have already driven to College Station.
But since I didn't, here one of two things happens: either the shuttle takes me to a "central stop" on campus, where I guess I can walk to Sbisa for dinner because I don't have a car, or perhaps in light of the ones of passengers on this route maybe it will take me where I actually want to go. And then I can get an Uber to a restaurant and back, because, yeah, no car.
Profit??
