Texas High Speed Rail

[Anderson]

There has not been much discussion of the Texas CR HSR plans lately, but the project was facing an attempt in the Texas legislature to kill it by preventing the Texas DOT from spending any funds at all to work with TCR on the HSR line. Here is a company proposing to privately fund a HSR corridor between the 2 largest cities in the state and even then, many Republicans want to kill or block it entirely. The news is that the language that would stop TCR was deleted in a 6-4 committee so that threat is over. I'm sure there are many more attempts in the works to stop the Dallas- Houston HSR line.

WFAA: Bullet train project saved in late-night vote.

Dallas Morning News: Budget writers remove provision that threatened bullet train proposal.

I'm going to try and untangle the politics of this as best I can and guess what happened:

(1) There have been a lot of rumblings that the Koch Brothers are trying to foul the lines on this project as best they can. That's option number one. While TC isn't asking for public money, IIRC there are certain parts of the planning process which the DOT needs to offer comment on for various reasons. Depending on how the clause was worded, the amendment likely would have barred them from doing so even if said costs were reimbursed, really making for a mess of things.

(2) It's also possible that the Sen. who proposed the amendment is just an ***** who didn't have a good grasp on what he was doing. Trust me, you get someone trying to be too clever by half in the legislature and *ahem* hilarity ensues.

(3) #1 and #2 are not mutually exclusive.

So...while there's room for conspiracy, I'm also willing to grant the benefit of blind stupidity here as well.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

From my vantage point the partisan anti-rail attacks in Texas appear to have been rather successful in shaping public opinion, stamping out most forms of support, and creating targeted rules and restrictions which exclusively penalize passenger rail projects. Anyone who believes Texan politicians are impotent or that they are fair and reasonable in their governance of state transportation projects needs to read up on the Wright Amendment. There is no definable ideology guiding our decision making and no limit to the sort of "big government" actions our supposedly free market loving state will employ in order to control the outcome. In this state money talks and reason walks. I have never fully understood the need to equate regressive goals with idiocy. Perhaps we betray our own carelessness whenever we fall victim to the desire to laugh off the latest threat as little more than confusion and ignorance.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Big Money + Moronic and Corrupt Office Holders= Texas State Government!

 

[CHamilton]

Texans invest $75 million in high-speed rail proposal

 

[Railroad Bill]

Ah, Jim and D.A. can host the Gathering in 2021 and we can all ride the HS train between Dallas and Houston on a sunny October afternoon.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Ah, Jim and D.A. can host the Gathering in 2021 and we can all ride the HS train between Dallas and Houston on a sunny October afternoon.

Bill: If only y'all can get the Ohio Guv and the Lege to being back the CCC Route we can have a Gathering in Cleveland, Cincinnati or Columbus and ride trains all over the Buckeye State!

 

[Caesar La Rock]

Well then, the project seems to be moving forward. Feds actually approved this project.

http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/blog/2015/08/exclusive-feds-finalize-bullet-train-s-corridor.html

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Bullets in Texas are a step closer!

 

[DSS&A]

In addition to the $70 Million Texas Central Railway has raised so far locally, a Japanese fund recently announced that it is contributing $40 Million to this project. Here's the link to an article about these additional funds.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/11/22/national/japan-to-plow-40-million-into-plans-for-texas-high-speed-rail/#.VnFyVsnnbqB

 

[DSS&A]

Hi,

Here's a link to a article about the proposed station in Grimes County on the HSR line. The article also has a lot of other interesting information about the project.

http://m.theeagle.com/news/a_m/houston-to-dallas-high-speed-rail-to-make-only-stop/article_be6b1034-7319-11e5-8e61-eb316e6dcaf6.html?mode=jqm

 

[DSS&A]

Hi,

Local leaders still want the HSR station downtown. Here's a link to a newspaper article about this issue.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/transportation/article/Focus-shifts-to-stretching-bullet-train-to-6710235.php?t=8993b34614438d9cbb&cmpid=twitter-premium

 

[DSS&A]

Hi,

Here's an article from Japan about the project with a little information about the train's, financing and the project timeline.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/12/29/business/texas-high-speed-rail-firm-eyes-jr-tokai-partner-shinkansen-tech-cars/#.VoPPKxorL-Z?platform=hootsuite

 

[printman2000]

They have a form setup that will send letters to legislator members. If you live in Texas, go to http://timetoridetx.com/and fill it out.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

They have a form setup that will send letters to legislator members. If you live in Texas, go to http://timetoridetx.com/and fill it out.

Done.

 

[WoodyinNYC]

Cliff, the Texas Legislature is a strange and terrifying place that sane people should avoid!

"No man or dog is safe when the Legislature is in session!"

The venerable quote traces back to the 19th Century, and as true as ever.

Gideon John Tucker In 1866, as Surrogate of New York, he wrote in a decision of a will case: "No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the Legislature is in session." -- Wikipedia

 

[DSS&A]

Hi,

Here's an article about the proposed HSR passenger train equipment that is being discussed for this new HSR railroad.

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/high-speed/single-view/view/n700s-to-launch-next-generation-shinkansen-trainsets.html

 

[John Bredin]

Saw this newspaper article in a NARP e-mail digest of rail news. http://www.star-telegram.com/news/traffic/your-commute/article102316272.html All quotes are from said article.

My blood boiled and my mind boggled at the sheer circular stupidity of this argument:

As far as David Risinger Sr. is concerned, just because a company calls itself a railroad doesn’t make it one. Especially, he said, when the company in question, Texas Central Railroad and Infrastructure Inc., didn’t exist until 2012 — and to this day owns no depots, locomotives, tracks or ties.

So because it isn't yet a functioning railway, it has no right to do one of the key things it must do to become a functioning railway?! :wacko: That's some catch, that Catch-22!

In its quest to accumulate land, the company cites a state law dating to 1876 that allows a railroad to take private land in Texas for the public good, even if the railroad itself is a for-profit, private company. Such laws have been used for decades by electricity providers, river authorities and oil and gas pipeline concerns to acquire property through eminent domain.


But Risinger and about three dozen other property owners situated between Dallas and Houston who have been slapped with similar lawsuits argue that the law was never intended for a bullet train.

So what makes a "bullet train" any different from the original 19th-Century railroads for which this law was precisely intended?! hboy: Which as start-up railroads may also not yet have had "depots, locomotives, tracks, or ties" when they were granted that power and (presumably) exercised it.

 

[Bob Dylan]

The Property Rights Crowd in Texas is the most Far Right Kooks in the Lone Star State, which is saying something!

They think Rick "Governor for Life" Perry was too Liberal and that all Governments are Evil to the core!

Sort of Wealthy, Know Nothing NIMBYs so to speak! ( and there's plenty of Lawyers to take their Cases! )

 

[MattW]

So buy a quarter mile worth of land, go buy a used MP15 or Alco from some scrapyard, strap a lawn mower engine to it if you have to, lay some track, and stick it to the NIMBY's.

 

[Anderson]

Honestly, were I the court my handling of the case would probably be to (since the company has made its intent clear insofar as putting in tracks) grant a contingent transfer/forced buyout of the property...which is to say that if the company were to fold prior to laying tracks (or indeed were to become something other than a railroad and choose not to run trains), the land would revert to the previous owners if they so chose in exchange for partial or total remission of the price paid to them. That's all I'd give them, though.

 

[John Bredin]

Anderson: before you could have even a contingent condemnation, the land must be surveyed. The landowners in question are arguing that TCR has no authority to enter their land for the survey, despite a Texas statute expressly allowing it, because it's not a functioning railroad.

 

[jis]

In the past such problems were resolved by acquiring a token railroad company with a mile of narrow gauge track somewhere with a decrepit engine and a caboose

 

[John Bredin]

In the past such problems were resolved by acquiring a token railroad company with a mile of narrow gauge track somewhere with a decrepit engine and a caboose

But if TCR did so, the opponents of HSR would post photographs of the lousy track and ancient train online and claim them as examples of HSR as an antiquated choo-choo. It wouldn't fool rail supporters or reasonable neutral people, but it's not intended to.

 

[cirdan]

If you need to own a railroad to build a railrtoad, where did the first railroad come from?

 

[cirdan]

sorry, duplicate post my mistake. Mods, please delet this post.