Texas poised to get America's first bullet train

President Joe Biden is reportedly seeking to revive a project that would construct a high-speed railway from Houston to Dallas in Texas utilizing Japanese bullet trains.

According to a Reuters report on Tuesday, citing unnamed administration sources, the White House is looking to make an announcement on the project following talks between Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Washington, D.C., this week.

The Japanese government and the White House declined to comment on the report, though the project has seen renewed support from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who told KXAS in Fort Worth on Sunday: “We believe in this.”

Ultraviolet,

If we get a bullet train in the US it should be something like a DC to San Francisco route, make a proper substitute for cross country flights.

local_taxi_fix,

That would be awesome, but I think the best value would be with a run up the northeast (DC-Baltimore-Philly-NYC-Boston). All massive population centers close together.

UnderpantsWeevil,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

The year is 2008 and Texas residents are being promised a bullet train.

The year is 2016 and Texas residents are being promised a bullet train.

The year is 2024 and Texas residents are being promised a bullet train.

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/7e524629-030c-41e6-83e4-c858e98def78.jpeg

postmateDumbass,

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/2694dea8-696c-48dc-b822-97e03f632e83.jpeghttps://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/95a3a8b6-fd36-41f3-8391-2884830e4886.jpeghttps://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/47675348-8b37-4c13-9a67-91ed9ce63004.jpeg

Sweetpeaches69,

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/dc1bd0d6-787e-4651-bc88-6fae3b1b1162.gif

A_Random_Idiot,

A bullet train? in my Texas?! That sounds like some east coast liberal anti-car woke socialism!!

We dont want none of that hippy dippy liberty stealing foreigner mass transit in our glorious state!

/s for the oblivious

Nomecks,

But it has the word bullet right in it. Sounds like you’re anti gun. Why do you hate freedom?

card797,

Mount a gun on it and you got a deal.

postmateDumbass,

I demand steer horns.

card797,

Steer Horns that shoot bullets out of the ends.

AllNewTypeFace,
@AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space avatar

Is this likely to be built before CAHSR and Brightline West?

UnderpantsWeevil,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

Was watching Hollywood screenwriters make fun of CAHSR back in 2014, during the second season of True Detective. Ten years later and still nothin’.

AllNewTypeFace,
@AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space avatar

They built some pretty large viaducts a few years ago.

UnderpantsWeevil,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

jazz hands

phoenixz,

Yeah, not going to happen. Most projects of this size are dead in arrival, even if faintly realistic at the start.

How about you just start with good rail infrastructure and upgrade and improve there? So many more gains for a fraction of the cost.

cosmicrookie,
@cosmicrookie@lemmy.world avatar

NRA did not do their homework with this one…

mlg,
@mlg@lemmy.world avatar

deleted_by_moderator

    •
    Red_October,

    It’ll get canned as soon as Texans realize it’s not called a bullet train because of any involvement with guns.

    gentooer,

    Just make the station look like a giant gun

    Snowpix,
    @Snowpix@lemmy.ca avatar

    Spam a bunch of eagles, military memorabilia, guns, and US flags everywhere and they’ll be all over it. Bonus points if the whole train is eagle themed.

    bobzilla,

    Ok, hear me out… Train station in the shape of a bald eagle with the covered track area leading out shaped like a gun penis for the eagle. The engine is shaped like a bullet, and the cars all have flames down the sides so it goes extra fast.

    tsonfeir,
    @tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

    So people can get out of Texas faster?

    RippleEffect,

    I mean from Houston to Dallas, so it’ll probably be dependent on where they’re ultimately going.

    Alexstarfire,

    Airport

    RippleEffect,

    Both cities have airports.

    Manmoth,

    Texas has the second highest domestic migration in the country (second only to Florida). New York, Illinois and California (worst) have negative migration rates.

    …wikipedia.org/…/List_of_U.S._states_and_territor…

    tsonfeir,
    @tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

    Good. Let them sleep in that bed.

    Manmoth,

    Texas is getting a new bullet train soon.

    tsonfeir,
    @tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

    Wait really? I never knew.

    Veraxus,

    As much as I hate to admit it, The People’s Republic of Texastan kind-of makes sense as a starting point given the geography. If we can extend this to a nationwide network, it would be a very, very big deal.

    wersooth,

    I just want to see their faces, when they realise, that Bullet is NOT that bullet they thought…

    ThatWeirdGuy1001,
    @ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world avatar

    Plot twist. The train will be loaded into a giant gun and literally fired like a bullet because Texas.

    captainlezbian,

    I still think NYC-Chicago is the real test of high speed rail in this country. A route people want to take, that’s far enough to fly, between two cities where car ownership is optional.

    I’m glad Dallas-Houston is happening but I wonder how much traffic it will get. In my midwestern mind they’re both just “texas big city”

    Wogi,

    So, let’s say such a train takes the same security as amtrack does, which is to say very little.

    If the train is a viable option it would need to compete on time but there’s a caveat. The flight between the two cities is 2 and a half hours. Not including getting to the airport early, going through security, and waiting for your flight. So we can reasonably say it’s 4 and a half hours of down time.

    The distance the train would travel is just over 700 miles. A 200 mile per hour bullet train at best possible speed does that in 4-5 hours. Assuming it’s express, and there are no delays.

    If the train is faster and similar in cost it’s a no brainer, take the train every time. If it’s more expensive, which is will be if it isn’t subsidized, then it won’t succeed. People will see the longer travel time and not consider security and waiting around, and just buy the cheaper ticket. Then curse ass spirit air gets them stuck on the tarmac.

    fuckingkangaroos,

    I’d pay more to take a train in many situations. Much more comfortable, less hassle, lower emissions.

    Kit,

    Same. I don’t fly but love taking trains, even if it takes longer.

    NotMyOldRedditName,

    You know they’d somehow figure out how to make it more uncomfortable to eek out more $$$ by fitting more people.

    Wogi,

    I’ve taken some of the longer train routes on the east coast, and they’re quite comfortable. Occasionally full, but it’s a lot easier to add space comfortably on a train by adding a car than it is in an aircraft.

    fuckingkangaroos,

    Seems like a pretty pessimistic view…

    NotMyOldRedditName,

    It is. I don’t usually have a lot of faith in large scale projects

    wolfpack86,

    Depends how comfortable they make the train, too. Should be significantly better than coach on a plane.

    Zorsith, (edited )
    @Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    I mean, getting out of Texas as fast as possible is an admirable goal for the future.

    Crossing the great emptiness of it is a great starting point. Like building a river backwards, starting with a delta at multiple cities.

    GamingChairModel,

    It’s not surprising that the first city pair would be a commonly traveled route with cheap flat land in between. Once that’s demonstrated to work, they can start trying it for cities where the need to purchase rights for the route will be more expensive, and on terrain where long straight segments are more challenging to construct.

    I wonder how much traffic it will get.

    This source says average, about 24,000 people drive between the two cities any given day, and there are about 30 commercial flights per day between the cities. That sounds like a decent amount of potential demand.

    Crikeste,

    But how walkable are Dallas and Houston? I think the success of this is predicated on that, because if people can’t get around without a car, they’ll take one with them.

    Still though, pretty cool. Sucks it’ll be in Texas but progress is progress.

    bradorsomething,

    Texas is barely walkable from the back of the giant parking lot into the store.

    rhandyrhoads,

    Depends on where you are, but with that 30 flight number there’s definitely plenty of people that aren’t bringing their cars with them.

    GlendatheGayWitch,

    Dallas proper has some light rail around downtown with a couple lines that travel outward, and even a train that goes from Downtown Dallas to downtown Fort Worth. It’s still difficult to get to a lot of places outside downtown, the American Airlines Center, and the State Fair ground though.

    Houston I think has some buses, but it would also be difficult to get too far from downtown.

    bradorsomething,

    Houston sometimes has sidewalks. Sometimes.

    crazyCat,

    Houston has some light rail also.

    intensely_human,

    Well fortunately we have Uber, so people can take Ubers around. It’s less energy efficient than each person having their own car, but it’s more parking efficient which leads to economic viability.

    wolfpack86,

    Are those flights because of hub relationships? Where it will still be somehow cheaper to fly with a hop than to fly direct out of the hub?

    I once lived 1hr from an airport and 2hrs from a hub. It was always cheaper to drive to the closest airport and fly to the hub. Absolutely annoying.

    GamingChairModel,

    Yes, a big chunk of the flight demand probably comes from the fact that each is a hub for a major airline (American Airlines has its big hub in DFW, and United has one of its major hubs in IAH).

    Still there are a lot of flights between the two cities for passengers who are starting and stopping their journeys there.

    Carlo,

    Dallas? Nobody in Houston wants to go to fucking Dallas.

    hakase,

    Lol my wife is from DFW and the first thing she said was “why the fuck would anyone want to go to Houston?”

    TenderfootGungi,

    Texas cities (like most in US, but TX seem on another level) are car centric urban sprawl. Nobody really wants to go to any of them for the city itself. We might go to the Dallas Zoo, or Dallas art gallery (both are nice), but not “Dallas”.

    I do enjoy going to “London” or “Paris”.

    fuckingkangaroos,

    Agreed. A bunch of loud, dangerous vehicles taking up the majority of public space with their lifeless, hard infrastructure while polluting the air and filling our brains with micro plastics.

    bradorsomething,

    London is so small though, the gas station isn’t even open much - better to drive to Junction. At least Paris is the County Government.

    frostysauce,

    The Fort Worth zoo is so much better than the Dallas zoo.

    SkabySkalywag,

    Hah! Nice one

    UnderpantsWeevil,
    @UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

    In all seriousness, the two cities do a ton of business together. Dallas is the state’s financial capital and Houston is its largest port and energy export terminal. The air travel between these cities runs every 30 minutes from sun up to sun down, with a few overnights to boot, completely maxed out. And I-45 is a clogged bowel of a highway during every major holiday and sports event.

    Carlo,

    Yeah, it’s a fair cop. I’m sure the train would see plenty of use. It’s just that I’ve lived in and around Houston for a plurality of my life, and the only thing that really makes me feel connected to my fellow Houstonians is a shared, exaggerated disdain for Dallas.

    UnderpantsWeevil,
    @UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

    I always thought thing that really brought Houstonians together was rodeo and bbq.

    Carlo,

    ¯_(ツ)_/¯ I don’t care about those things, or sports. Not many other things come to mind that Houston broadly agrees on.

    UnderpantsWeevil,
    @UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

    I don’t care about those things

    I can’t imagine why you’d be more invested in hating Dallas than eating brisket or going to the closest thing we’ve got to an amusement park since AstroWorld closed.

    Not many other things come to mind that Houston broadly agrees on.

    We all hate trains for some reason. But like bikes? Its a bit confused, I’ll admit.

    Carlo,

    I’m not invested in it at all; it’s supposed to be funny. And I’m not hostile to the rodeo, it’s just never appealed to me. Honestly, I don’t know that you’d get broad consensus on any of this stuff across greater Houston— excepting support for local sports teams—it’s pretty heterogenous. Then again, what do I know; I just live here, I’ve never really felt like part of the community. That’s kind of the point!

    UnderpantsWeevil,
    @UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

    Honestly, I don’t know that you’d get broad consensus on any of this stuff across greater Houston

    You definitely create a bunch of traffic around NRG.

    excepting support for local sports teams—it’s pretty heterogenous

    There’s definitely a Houston food culture, particularly with the intersection of East Asian and Creole. I had a bowl of crawfish etouffee Ramen Noodles at Tatsuya that I challenge you to find anywhere else. Houston is definitely a blended culture, but I wouldn’t call it heterogenous. The old 80s-era red lines have run thin and the appeal of cheap real estate has done more than just toss the city’s salad.

    I just live here, I’ve never really felt like part of the community.

    Maybe I get a different perspective living inside 610. Maybe COVID refreshed my outlook on my neighborhood. Maybe ten years in the same spot just gave me a chance to meld with my neighbors. But I definitely vibe with my neighbors more than I did out in Sugar Land or even on campus in Austin.

    When I run into people at the park or in the tunnels that I recognize, despite being a a city of several million, it feels like a smaller town than it is.

    Treczoks,

    Just three or four decades after the rest of the civilized world! Yeah!

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