maybe rebirth of texas high speed rail with jr central?

[miyakoji]

I'm not having any luck reading between the lines. Is this good or bad?

[kvp]

This might or might not suggest someone having inside information. It could be speculation from both the seller's and the buyer's side. The exact value of the transaction and the estimated buyout value in case the terminal is built there could help, but it will remain speculation until the actual locatation and land values are known. (if the latter ever becomes public)

[Mudkip Orange]

I'm crossing my fingers that it's a front for Texas Central, but it could just as easily be a speculator who's looking to flip it to TCR once the EIS comes out.

 

 

Meanwhile, my understanding is the mayor and other officials are pushing to get it all the way Downtown.

[ozman2009]

"All the way downtown" would be good. One of the good things about train travel in Europe is that it can be from CBD to CBD - eg the Eurostar from Paris to London.

[bikkuri bahn]

Downtown (or close to it with good transit connections) should be the final goal, but a private venture like this is about maximizing cost performance/shareholder value. Which, given the conditions of sunbelt sprawl cities, means first building a terminus with good road connections to the business centers (not necessarily downtown, could be suburban business parks)- this will likely mean a relatively large greenfield or greyfield location such as the parcel reported about above.

Edited April 22, 2015 by bikkuri bahn

[Mudkip Orange]

What bikkuri said. Houston sprawls so much that the weighted centroid of white collar employment is likely slightly to the *west* of the Northwest Mall, e.g. further away from Downtown. The "Energy Corridor" - which contains about a third of the oil, gas, and engineering firms - is, at 22 miles, further from Downtown Houston than Yokohama is from Tokyo Station.

[bikkuri bahn]

FRA  Alignment Alternatives Analysis Report.  Interesting reading. 

https://www.fra.dot.gov/eLib/Details/L17203

Some snippets:

5.1.2 Design Guidelines
TCR developed alignment design guidelines based on their engineering judgment and professional
experience. The guidelines focused on alignment curvature, profile gradient, and constructability
considerations. These are requirements all potential route alternatives must meet to be considered
feasible. The general design guidelines, used by FRA in its Level I Screening, are:
 Maximum Operating Speed: a desired maximum operating speed of 205 mph (330 kilometers
per hour (km/h)) was chosen to be consisted with N700‐I Tokaido Shinkansen technology. The
alignment was designed to provide for maximum operating speeds throughout to the extent
practical, but in some locations alignment curvature to minimize property and environmental
impacts would restrict speeds.
 Separation from Existing Freight Rail Lines: the proposed HSR system would not operate on any
existing freight rail lines. It is expected that reconfiguration of existing freight lines in select
locations may be required to support construction and operations of the HSR system.
 Alignment Curvature: a desired minimum radius of 17,000 feet (5,200 meters) was used for
development of the preliminary alignments. This minimum radius curve would allow for
operations at 205 mph (330 km/h) using the maximum permissible cant (actual superelevation)
of 7 inches (175 millimeters).
 Maximum Grade: the desired maximum grade was set at 1.5 percent
 Special Trackwork: for the design of the trackwork at the approaches to stations, where all
trains would stop, an assumption of 31 mph (50 km/h) special trackwork components was used
to establish the footprint of the station approach limits
 Recommended Minimum Offset between HSR and Utility ROW: a 165‐foot (50 meter) offset
was established as the minimum separation distance from the centerline of the electrical
transmission line corridor to the centerline of the HSR corridor. This was determined by taking
approximately half of the minimum assumed transmission line ROW width of 215 feet (65
meters) for an electrical transmission line corridor and adding it to half of the assumed 100 feet
(30 meters) minimum high‐speed rail ROW width.

 

Also check out cross sections of the line (at grade, fill, and elevated) on pages 8/9

[Mudkip Orange]

Actual engineering schematics always make a project more believable than pretty pictures and lines on maps.

[bikkuri bahn]

The operator of a Japanese high-speed train line plans to open a Dallas office to support a local company’s plans for a controversial bullet train connecting North Texas and Houston.

 

The Dallas Regional Chamber announced Thursday afternoon that Central Japan Railway Co. will station about 20 employees in Dallas.

 

The company’s technical and operations experts will help privately-backed Texas Central Partners with the development of what could be America’s first high-speed rail line. Texas Central plans to use the same train and rail technology that Central Japan uses on its Tokaido Shinkansen line that connects Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka.

 

http://transportationblog.dallasnews.com/2016/05/japanese-bullet-train-operator-opening-office-in-dallas-to-assist-texas-high-speed-rail.html/