Dallas-to-Houston high-speed rail review set to begin following feds’ OK today
As expected, the Federal Railroad Administration has given the thumbs-up to an environmental impact statement concerning a long-proposed Dallas-to-Houston high-speed rail line. The FRA, in conjunction with the Texas Department of Transportation, will conduct the EIS on behalf of the privately operated Texas Central Railway, which promises a 90-minute trek from Dallas to Houston (by 2021, give or take).
The EIS will study various route alignments, including shared corridors with other existing linear infrastructure corridors such as railroads, roads, and electric utility lines. Also, says the FRA, it will analyze the potential impacts of stations, power facilities, and maintenance facilities to support HSR operations. The review could take some time several months, say transportation officials, and possibly longer than a year.
The public notice comes as no surprise: Back in January U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx gave his blessing to the project, which has been around since the 1980s when Southwest Airlines crashed a proposal from what was then known as Texas TGV. But this lines looking more and more like
well, if not a reality, then something less pipe-dreamy.
From the FRAs notice today, which announces a public-comment period, a little background for those who dismissed this as never-gonna-happen:
TCR is a Texas-based company formed in 2009 to bring HSR to Texas as a private-sector venture. Working closely with Central Japan Railway Company (JRC), TCR is proposing the deployment of JRCs N700-I Bullet System based on the worlds safest, most reliable, lowest emission, electric-powered, HSR systems, the Tokaido Shinkansen System. Developed and operated by JRC and the former Japan National Railways, the Tokaido Shinkansen has operated safely for almost 50 years and carries over 400,000 daily passengers. The most current generation Shinkansen train, the Series N700, runs at speeds up to 186 miles per hour.
More at
http://transportationblog.dallasnews.com/2014/06/dallas-to-houston-high-speed-rail-review-set-to-begin-following-feds-ok-today.html/ .