Missed Opportunity. BCS Stop on High-Speed Texas Central Railroad

7,291 Views | 73 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by rsa
EcoZapp.AC&Air.Purifiers
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EBrazosAg said:

Comparing passenger/freight railroad in the 19th and 20th century to the HSR is not apples and oranges. I've been to countries with HSR and there are plenty of prosperous towns not on the HSR. Go back and come up with a better argument.....

- It's not the same, tons of different variables. Just like there is a laundry list of reasons why Amtrak isn't so great.


But the situation of a city being passed up on, by a Major Transportation source in the Texas Triangle, at near the center of the Texas Triangle is a completely different situation and math problem.



All those people, all that money, all those future Alumni / donors / opportunity will get on a train in DFW and get off in Houston. ( how many will detour to B/CS over 20 years? )


B/CS could use a pipeline of new / different revenue. B/CS is supported so much by Hotel Taxes alone it seems a transportation source pumping people into the city would be... umm.. beneficial?
cavscout96
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AG
EcoZapp.BCS.Air.Roofing said:


Didn't HWY 6 use to be one of the Most Deadly Highway Stretches in the Country not too long ago I believe?

( Prof once said it took so long to widen and add lanes due to some Rare-ish flower that may bloom once every so many years.. and the construction could impact the flowers ... delaying the projects)


Trains last a long time, much longer than we're likely to live. Add Value to Aggieland with a Train for Future Generations ? or rely on Easterwood and the Assumption that maybe one day planes don't fly for X amount of time for whatever reason..




- Has anyone read some American History and noticed what happened to towns which the RailRoad missed? You don't really know about the towns the railroad missed because the world passed them up.


Build a Train which misses B/CS by 15 miles and fast forward ~30 or 40 years and ponder the what ifs.. Traveling to B/CS will still likely be thru HWY 6 and Easterwood. Or a Train Track which goes directly thru town, which doesn't carry people.







1. If I'm in Houston, why would I hassle with riding a train to CS when I can drive just as quickly (considering ques, security, loading, check-in, etc.) and have a way to get around at my disposal. It's not like B/CS has a robust mass transit system once you get here. You could make the argument that a trip from Dallas to CS might make sense, but you still have to drive to the Dallas terminal, que, etc, and still have no means to get around once you get here. I've done this, repeatedly, its a PITA.

2. all of that was before the internet

3. I can tell you what will happen in 30-40 years..... real estate developers will build a commercial and residential corridor between the stop and BCS. College Station isn't going the way of Washington-on-the-Brazos because the train didn't come through town.
EcoZapp.AC&Air.Purifiers
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So, in your mind a city will "pop up" around the train station with new real estate development which would be ~15 miles outside the city's tax market and away from businesses currently in the city, thus forever decreasing the need to ever build a more pedestrian friendly city.

B/CS is gonna need a new Taxi Fleet Cartel to carry ppl from a High Speed Train into B/CS; overall it may defeat the benefits of someone actually using a High Speed Train.

Also, Two more hotels that way = less hotel rooms the other way. People traveling = a Zero Sum Game.



I am perplexed why B/CS doesn't WANT an additional stream of revenue entering the city, especially after 2020... when B/CS almost spent $100,000,000 on a golf driving range to bring ppl into the city..


$100m could probably buy a train station, connected to Kyle Field which runs slowly thru Santa's Wonderland during Christmas dumping people off at local Hotels.
cavscout96
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AG
EcoZapp.BCS.Air.Roofing said:

So, in your mind a city will "pop up" around the train station with new real estate development which would be ~15 miles outside the city's tax market and away from businesses currently in the city, thus forever decreasing the need to ever build a more pedestrian friendly city.

B/CS is gonna need a new Taxi Fleet Cartel to carry ppl from a High Speed Train into B/CS; overall it may defeat the benefits of someone actually using a High Speed Train.

Also, Two more hotels that way = less hotel rooms the other way. People traveling = a Zero Sum Game.



I am perplexed why B/CS doesn't WANT an additional stream of revenue entering the city, especially after 2020... when B/CS almost spent $100,000,000 on a golf driving range to bring ppl into the city..


$100m could probably buy a train station, connected to Kyle Field which runs slowly thru Santa's Wonderland during Christmas dumping people off at local Hotels.
You're conflating the issue. spending 100M on a golf course/range might be the only thing MORE stupid than this HSR boondoggle. The HSR wins though because stealing private property and giving it to a foreign commercial interest goes beyond stupidity and is, instead, morally reprehensible.
rsa
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EcoZapp.BCS.Air.Roofing said:

So, in your mind a city will "pop up" around the train station with new real estate development which would be ~15 miles outside the city's tax market and away from businesses currently in the city, thus forever decreasing the need to ever build a more pedestrian friendly city.

B/CS is gonna need a new Taxi Fleet Cartel to carry ppl from a High Speed Train into B/CS; overall it may defeat the benefits of someone actually using a High Speed Train.

Also, Two more hotels that way = less hotel rooms the other way. People traveling = a Zero Sum Game.



I am perplexed why B/CS doesn't WANT an additional stream of revenue entering the city, especially after 2020... when B/CS almost spent $100,000,000 on a golf driving range to bring ppl into the city..


$100m could probably buy a train station, connected to Kyle Field which runs slowly thru Santa's Wonderland during Christmas dumping people off at local Hotels.

Having the high speed rail detour into BCS makes about as much sense as driving to Huntsville by way of North Zulch: doable, but why bother.

The stop on 30 is a courtesy stop. From the planning sessions and the info online, the rail service is express service between Dallas and Houston with a very limited number of stops at 30 as needed. Maybe more stops on game day weekends, etc., but that is still an extremely small amount of projected need If the planned I-14 follows Hwy 30 in that area, then maybe there will be more stops. As for a taxi fleet, I'm relatively certain that Ground Shuttle, for example, is already well equipped for any traffic to and from the Hwy 30 stop.

We can barely keep an airport going in this area. Heck, Lubbock's airport has more flights and destinations than we do. The idea that BCS could support an HSR stop is chuckleworthy at best.
 
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