Trans-Texas Corridor & HSR...

As politically hot as a potato can be, Gov. Perry's Trans-Texas Corridor 35 seems to be on its way to some sort of reality. If any of you are unfamiliar with the preferred alignment (announced earlier this month) for the tollway/truckway/railway/HSR, here is a link to a PDF file containing that information. Basically, it's a 1200' swath of land spanning from Laredo, east around San Antonio and Austin, a wide swing around Dallas and over the Red River and into Oklahoma, accommodating 6 car lanes, 4 truck lanes, double-tracked freight & double-tracked passenger rail lines.

My thoughts on the TTC is that at least all of the rail lines, both freight and passenger, should be built - period. It would free up the freight lines in cities like Austin, where I live, for prospective uses such as commuter rail (I must mention that I am a member of the A-SACC, an organization working to implement rail in the Austin-San Antonio region), and move thru hazardous cargo out of urbanized areas altogether. I believe that HSR via the TTC would work as well, with spurs connecting the TTC to central station locations in Dallas, Austin and San Antonio.

As it stands, I think that HSR is somewhat of an afterthought in the program, as the real support for the TTC ($$$) comes straight from the highway lobby, so I don't think the HSR can or will stand on its own, but a guy can dream, right?

(BTW, I'm new here and I did a search for TTC posts as of late and came up with nil)

You're right about one thing — as far as HSR is concerned, this project is not related.

(Incidentally, "TTC" is often related to Toronto, Canada and their streetcars.)

Irish Chieftain wrote:You're right about one thing — as far as HSR is concerned, this project is not related.

(Incidentally, "TTC" is often related to Toronto, Canada and their streetcars.)

I'm not sure what you mean. HSR definitely comprises the "passenger rail" portion of the project. I just meant that it obviously wasn't the front-and-center issue on that project - huge toll roads are.

TTC is more than I-35 from Laredo; it also involves the future I-69 Corridor from the Rio Grande Valley, up to the Canadian border. The grand plan of having an elaborate transportation plan, including fast rail transport, can be viewed at keeptexasmoving.org.

HSR definitely comprises the "passenger rail" portion of the project

No it absolutely doesn't. The TTC website explicitly says "high-speed commuter rail" which is not HSR.

The plan originally included, and still does AFAIK, a rather elaborate system of intercity travel between major Texas cities, including Brownsville, near where I live. While the term "commuter rail" is used in the document, I think it's a misnomer. Brownsville to El Paso is about 800 miles, hardly a commuter run.

Irish Chieftain wrote:

HSR definitely comprises the "passenger rail" portion of the project

No it absolutely doesn't. The TTC website explicitly says "high-speed commuter rail" which is not HSR.

I apologize, you are correct. However, I agree with the poster above that the term is a misnomer. If you can explain the fundamental difference between HSR linking cities that are 100-500 miles apart (as per TTC) and high-speed commuter rail doing the same, I'd like to hear it.

Irish Chieftain wrote:

HSR definitely comprises the "passenger rail" portion of the project

No it absolutely doesn't. The TTC website explicitly says "high-speed commuter rail" which is not HSR.

Journalists use the expression "Commuter" very loosely to the point where often it is quite meaningless.

Transport professionals distinguish between Inter City and travel to work (commuter) markets. Journalists usually seem unable to.

It seems to me that Texas is planning an Inter City system. They should try for the highest speed they can afford. Nothing less than 125 mph would be useful. Can they achieve that?

The preferred TTC-35 corridor is quite fluid in its layout; however, the exact location (within 5-10 miles) is yet to be determined. As planned, the TTC will bypass major cities to the east anywhere from 10-40 miles, and I presume both railway and tollway spurs will have to be made from the major cities for proper interfacing. I see no reason to expect any TTC passenger rail making less than 125 mph average, probably 150-175 mph should be sufficient for this system, competitive with short-haul flights & accompanying security downtime.