High-Speed Rail between Dallas and Fort Worth being discussed . . .

[Rover]

The North Central Texas Council of Governments are accepting public input on the implementation of high-speed transportation between Dallas and Fort Worth. The DFW High-Speed Transportation Connections Study is evaluating transportation alternatives to modernize and and enhance mobility in the region.

The study is being conducted in two phases over 36 months. The first phase is expected to be complete in June 2021, includes the development and evaluation of potential technologies and alignments.

Public meetings are planned for May 2021.

https://www.nctcog.org/trans/plan/t...w-high-speed-transportation-connections-study

 

[adamj023]

High speed rail in Texas makes sense. Texas has already seen a ton of rail growth and expansion with multiple rail companies. Texas sees a lot of passenger and freight rail which is necessary for the economy. Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, etc... are all ripe for expansion.

 

[MARC Rider]

High Speed rail between Dallas and Ft. Worth may be overkill, given that the distance between the two cities is only about 30 miles. However, it might be nice if they could speed up TRE and provide better access to Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport. The current TRE takes 56 minutes. There's no reason why that can't be shortened to 30 minutes for express trains, even if they do a reroute to serve the airport terminals. It would require double tracking, maybe some signals upgrades, and probably some new rolling stock, but there's no need for 300 km/hr TGV type trains on this run.

Oh, I went and took the trouble to read the Powerpoint deck. I don't know whether these people are serious, but if I were a citizen living in that area, I'd come to the next public meeting and raise hell about this boondoggle. They rigged their analysis to point it to the gadgetbahnen solution -- HSR, maglev, hyperloop, or "emerging technologies," whatever that is. Basically, they insisted on a 20 minute travel time, which guaranteed that enhanced conventional rail would not qualify. Thus, they want the taxpayers to be on the hook for all kinds of expensive stuff like right of way acquisition, building elevated structures, fancy new technologies, etc., when they could meet their real goal of faster trips between Dallas and Ft. Worth by simply double-tracking and upgrading the TRE, buying some Chargers and Siemens coaches and running more frequent service. If they really wanted to get fancy, they could string catenary, get some Sprinters and Amfleet 1 coaches secondhand from Amtrak after Amtrak replaces them, plus they could get commuter EMUs for the local service.

Of course, from what little I know about Texas, even spending the money to upgrade TRE is close to impossible, so I expect the gadgetbahnen stuff is a pipe dream.

 

[Rover]

Or they could just go underground for 30 miles...

 

[user 1215]

High speed rail in Texas makes sense. Texas has already seen a ton of rail growth and expansion with multiple rail companies. Texas sees a lot of passenger and freight rail which is necessary for the economy. Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, etc... are all ripe for expansion.

Between DFW and Houston, for sure. But not between Dallas and Fort Worth. That's just silly.

Honestly, I would have preferred the HSR that's being planned between Dallas and Houston to have gone along the I-35 corridor then out to El Paso (That would be a long, fast, but expensive route with no intermediate population centers) with a second line to Houston. Not even a huge fan of the current plan with only one stop in College Station. But the people are along I-95, not I-45.

 

[adamj023]

While I do not believe we will ever get to a national high speed rail network in the near future, I do believe we could see corridors emerge of areas in close proximity where high speed rail will exist. It makes sense not just on the Northeastern corridor but other areas as well. We will be seeing more of it and I do believe Texas will do more rail projects in the future just like in many other areas in the USA.

 

[Chris I]

This is a logical extension of the Dallas - Houston line. You have a stop in Dallas, a stop at DFW, and a stop in Fort-Worth. This way you can eventually eliminate domestic flights between DFW and Houston. Easy/fast rail transfer, similar to what you see in France.

 

[user 1215]

I've never understood airport to airport connections. Why? Who's final destination is the airport? You'll always have to transfer one way or another to where you are going. I mean, you can't compare IAH to DFW with Houston to Dallas or Fort Worth. You're always going somewhere else. Dallas Union Station was a more convenient place for me to end my journey than DFW because then it's a single train transfer to within 2 miles of my inlaw's home.