RAILROAD.NET

DALLAS - The developer behind the Texas bullet train announced Thursday that architecture students from universities across Texas are in a competition to design the passenger stations.

Texas Central, a private sector-led group, is developing Texas' high-speed railway between North Texas and Houston.

“Students like these are early adopters, driving demand for travel options like the Texas bullet train. We can’t wait to see the proposals they put together, with a vision for the station of the future,” said Holly Reed, managing director, external affairs, for Texas Central.

http://www.kcentv.com/news/local/texas- ... /339230419" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

More from the NARP: Hotline 988

Growing demand for high-speed rail throughout the U.S. is leading to stronger support from the general public for HSR projects nationwide. Multiple states and regions across the country are looking for HSR service and equipment upgrades, including California, Minnesota, the Northeast Corridor, and of course, Texas. A new poll in Texas by Survey USA highlights the trend, revealing that 76 percent of those surveyed support a privately built HSR system between Dallas and Houston. Fourteen percent were undecided, while only 10 percent opposed the project, which would be built by Texas Central Partners.

The Texas high-speed rail project is important for the country, and NARP has taken an active role in helping promote it and raise awareness of the project in the state. This past Saturday, for example, NARP members helped to organize a meeting in Houston with residents and David Hagy from Texas Central. During the meeting, Hagy noted five important features of the HSR project:

The HSR project in Texas will be the first of its kind in the United States as no HSR currently exist within the country.

As a private company, Texas Central will pay taxes to the communities in which the line runs through.

The Dallas to Houston route was selected due to the areas projected growth.

Following the completion of an environmental study, Texas Central will hear from the public on the HSR route.

Once approved, construction will begin in 2018, with a completion of early 2023.

L.E.K Consulting conducted a study on HSR in Texas and noted several of the benefits that Texans would received from riding HSR. The most notable stat that the new study found was that 90 percent of the 16 million people that reside in service areas between Dallas and Houston, could save at least one hour of travel time by taking the trains as opposed to traveling by car or by plane. This is a remarkable statistic that highlights the true potential of HSR not only in Texas, but across the U.S.

TC certainly like their claim that there are no HSRs in the US and that if they are operating first that they will be the first.

My opinion:

Technically, they are right. Acela cannot operate as a HSR, given it must live on the existing Northeast Corridor.

When Germany built ICE, when France built Mistral, they also built new rights of way, brigdges, and trackage, to support the speeds the new trains brought.

Update: http://www.progressiverailroading.com/p ... ect--52432" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Texas Central inks pact with Fluor, Lane for bullet train project

Texas Central Partners announced today that Fluor Enterprises and Lane Construction Corp. will be the preferred designer and builder of the private company's proposed bullet train between Dallas and Houston.

Under the agreement, Fluor and Lane will refine and update the project's construction planning and sequencing, scheduling and cost estimates, procurement, and other design and engineering activity related to civil infrastructure, Texas Central officials said in a press release.

After the development phase and financial plan close, Fluor and Lane would be the preferred design-builder of the project, they said.
...

Acela has some high-speed running on the NEC; What pairs of station stops presently have an average "high-speed" between them?

What do you consider "high speed"?
Taking a look at Amtrak's schedules and do some basic math. Here's the Acela average speeds between stations as published at:
https://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/122/248/Sy ... 0117,0.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Boston South to Boston Back Bay = 6 minutes over 1 mile = 10 mph
Boston Back Bay to Route 128 = 10 minutes over 10 miles = 60 mph
Route 128 to Providence = 22 minutes over 32 miles = 87 mph
Providence to New Haven = 91 minutes over 113 miles = 74 mph
New Haven to Stamford = 46 minutes over 39 miles = 51 mph
Stamford to New York City = 45 minutes over 36 miles = 48 mph
Note: The schedule shows a 15 minute stop at NYC....
New York City to Newark = 15 minutes over 10 miles = 40 mph
Newark to Philadelphia = 55 minutes over 91 miles = 99 mph
Philadelphia to Wilmington = 19 minutes over 25 miles = 79 mph
Wilmington to Baltimore = 44 minutes over 69 miles = 94 mph
Baltimore to BWI Marshall Airport = 13 minutes over 11 miles = 51 mph
BWI Marshall Airport to Washington D.C. = 27 minutes over 30 miles = 67 mph
All the math was calculated by (miles/minutes) x 60 = average mph.

Public hearings on the Draft EIS and alternative routes will happen between January 29 and February 6 in the affected counties. https://www.fra.dot.gov/Page/P0700" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Texas Central during the DEIS public meetings releases drawings of the present design of the downtown Dallas HSR station. This link has the drawings.....
https://www.texascentral.com/2018/01/29 ... n-station/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The multiple level train station will have shops, restaurants, news stands, etc. like what you might find in an airport terminal.

But from street level it looks more like a parking garage than anything else because the elevated track train station and at grade freight railroad corridor are surrounding on both sides by them.

Passengers arriving by car should find it easy to get to those new parking garages because the location of them at I-35E and I-30 intersection is where all the spoke freeways in Dallas merge.

It'll be interesting to see what developers will build adjacent to it.

Concept renderings for the Houston station were revealed:
https://www.texascentral.com/2018/02/05 ... announced/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Texas Central has also released drawings of the Brazos Valley station as well.
Just surf to their web site and check under their Blog tab for all the juicy details.
https://www.texascentral.com/blog/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Found by Jeff Smith.

Amtrak Jumps Aboard Texas Bullet Train Ticketing Shuttle Partnership

Admin note: Placed here, not in Amtrak, deliberately

I'm wondering if Amtrak would be able to directly access the new station. One less shuttle.

Amtrak or TRE tracks and platforms would probably be at grade level while Texas Central tracks and platforms will be elevated 20-30 feet above grade. If someone built (i.e. TRE) built these platforms at grade, Amtrak could use it. But I don’t expect Amtrak would build them.

With that cross-ticketing agreement they made, Amtrak may just pitch in to build a platform. It's either make one more stop along the way, or force a shuttle bus on people. Direct transfer or two transfers seems like an easy pick. The biggest problem is how they will engineer a platform into the area next to the station.