Texas Central High Speed ​​Railway

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Texas Central Railway
Texas Central High-Speed ​​Railway route
Routing of Interstate 45,
near which the high-speed line will be located
Route length: approx. 390 km
Gauge : 1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Top speed: 330 km / h
Legend
BSicon .svgBSicon exKBHFa.svg
Dallas
BSicon .svgBSicon exBHF.svg
Brazos Valley
BSicon .svgBSicon exKBHFe.svg
Houston

The Texas Central High-Speed ​​Railway , abbreviated TCR , or The Bullet Train , is a private high-speed rail project to cover the approximately 390 km (240 miles) stretch between Houston and Dallas . The train is said to be based on the Shinkansen and would be the first export of the Shinkansen to the United States after Central Japan Railway had long struggled for the American market. The top speed should be 330 km / h (205 m / h ) and the route should be completed in less than 90 minutes. In order not to cut the landscape unnecessarily, almost half of the route is elevated. In Houston and Dallas, areas near the city center are planned for the train stations, which allow a connection to their local transport.

history

While Texas doesn't have a strong public transportation market, there are some favorable factors for the train: Houston and Dallas are among the fastest growing cities in the United States, Texas airspace is already very busy, and land prices are relatively cheap. In the first presentations in 2014 it was planned that the project could be opened in 2021.

The private project company has commissioned an environmental impact study. In the course of this, the original nine routes were reduced to two possible variants. The “ Utility Route ” lays the route largely parallel to an existing route of high-voltage pylons, in the vicinity of which there is already little settlement. The " BNSF Route " takes over a route from the BNSF railway company and is expanding it. Both routes are close together in the same corridor as Interstate 45 . The “Utility Route” is currently favored and information events have been held in the towns along the route since April 2015. In Houston, instead of the route along the power poles, the mayor prefers a route along the inner-city wide- ranging Interstate 10 corridor. The environmental impact study was submitted to the railway authority for examination and is expected to be displayed there for public comment at the end of 2015.

While politicians in the Houston and Dallas-Fort-Worth metropolitan areas are in favor of the project, the rural districts in between are particularly against it. They fear that an otherwise traditional landscape with typical Texan cattle breeding will be cut up. The project company is therefore planning to upgrade from the 240 miles to over 100 miles.

No exact costs are given, but the geographic conditions allow a naturally flat route. The Japanese operator JR Central has already committed $ 10 billion for the financing. In some places $ 16 billion is given for the project. However, expropriation rights are still being debated, because they actually want to avoid the complete acquisition of land and only demand surface rights (practically permanent rights of way against compensation). This is a variant of the “ eminent domain ” rights, so that the existing power poles, for example, do not attack the possible rights of the owners of mineral resources such as oil.

Establishment

The administration under President Trump already supported the project at the beginning of the term in office in January 2017 and added it to the list of preferred infrastructure projects. In June 2017, the start of construction for 2018 was announced. In August 2018, the Fluor Corporation was appointed as the planning company to manage the construction. In September 2018, the company received a credit line of $ 300 million to prepare the construction plans. In October 2018, they commissioned Salini Impregilo as a construction company to create the route up to the shell construction (bridges, dams, drainage). The company stated that it could start in 2019, which will allow completion by 2024. In November 2018, however, it became known that the supervisory authority lists the date for the decision in March 2020. If the NEPA process cannot be accelerated, the construction work would actually start and could take 5 to 6 years.

The 2017 concept provides for the Dallas train station to be built on a wasteland in the Cedars district , which is located south of downtown Dallas. The city of Houston has noted in a cooperation agreement that it will connect the new train station to the local transport network and sees it in the area south of US 290 , west of Loop 610 and north of Interstate 10, and thus also near the city center . The construction of the intermediate station in Brazos Valley has also not yet been clarified. It is also unclear whether there will be a direct transition to the Dallas-Fort Worth Core Express Service , a state plan for a bullet train between Dallas and Fort Worth.

Planned construction areas of the stations:

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Aman Batheja, Stephen J. Smith: The Bullet Train That Could Change Everything. (No longer available online.) In: The Texas Tribune. August 14, 2014, archived from the original on October 2, 2014 ; accessed on October 2, 2014 .
  2. ↑ Bullet Train Firm Reveals Dallas-Houston Route . 17th February 2015.
  3. ^ Dallas to Houston High-Speed ​​Rail - Passenger Service from Houston to Dallas . FRA. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  4. ↑ Both Ends Want Bullet Train; It's Those in Middle Who Object . In: The New York Times . 20th November 2014.
  5. ↑ Global Construction Review: Trump makes $ 137bn list of “emergency” infrastructure schemes, all needing private finance . In: Global Construction Review . January 30, 2017.
  6. ^ A b c Joe Quirke: Texas to begin work on Dallas – Houston bullet train next year . In: Global Construction Review . June 16, 2017.
  7. ↑ Chris Chirls: Texas Central, Fluor reach HSR agreement . In: Railway Age . August 14, 2017.
  8. ↑ Texas Central lands $ 300 million loan for Dallas-to-Houston bullet train project . 13th September 2018.
  9. ↑ Texas central selects Renfe as operating partner . In: www.rtands.com .
  10. ^ High speed rail moves ahead: Texas Central proceeds with addition of Italian engineering, construction group . In: Corsicana Daily Sun , October 9, 2018. Retrieved October 16, 2018. 
  11. ↑ Bill Hethcock: Texas Bullet Train named top North American infrastructure project. bizjournals.com, October 30, 2018, accessed January 7, 2019 .
  12. ↑ FRA Permitting Dashboard .
  13. ↑ CEO: Carlos Aguilar, Texas Central ( American English ) In: KERA . 3rd December 2018.
  14. ^ City of Houston, Texas Central Sign Agreement on Development of the Texas Bullet Train . In: press release . Texas Central. 17th August 2017.
  15. ^ Dallas-Fort Worth Core Express Alternatives Analysis. txdot.gov, accessed December 11, 2017 .