Posted on 02/18/2018 8:33:31 AM PST by Elderberry
William Shelton will not let go of the past, even if it is in the way of someone else's future.
He has spent more than five years rebuilding his family's ancestral home, board by board, and has no intention of leaving it or the 250-acre farm that has been in his family since 1851.
Two years ago, surveyors started showing up, wanting a clear idea of his property lines for Texas Central Railway, the company behind plans for a 200-mph "bullet train" connecting Houston to Dallas. The proposed route would go through Shelton's farm.
"I guarantee I will be restoring that house until that first train comes over that hill," Shelton said.
Down in Houston, Melanie Sowell dreams of being on that train and 90 minutes away from family rather than four hours.
Her Texas ties go back as far as Shelton's. The Latino side of her family crossed the Rio Grande when Mexico still controlled the land on the north side.
"I know what this land means to people. Believe me, I do," Sowell said. "I also know Texas isn't stuck in place."
The fight over Texas Central Railway - a.k.a. the Texas Bullet Train - rests on many of the contentious fault lines that shape the Lone Star State. City interests versus rural identity. Urban dwellers versus people who want their stars at night to shine big and bright.
Mostly, it is about land. Who controls it, what's the best use for it and how much of it can the two metro areas - Houston and Dallas - claim so their economic futures are secure.
"How do you achieve that balance?" Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle asked. He supports the project despite the strong opposition of many in his district.
(Excerpt) Read more at houstonchronicle.com ...
Why not? Texas is already becoming like New Jersey. One big strip mall from Austin to San Antonio.
Why do lieberals like railroad grades so much. They destroy the environment. Same with the windmills. Same people who would chain themselves to a tree shrug and go collateral damage when reminded of the bird slaughter from the mills.
Unless her family plans on living in the train stations, it will not be a 90 minute trip.
Houston Comical never saw a big corporate welfare project they couldn’t love.
Downtown business partnership must want this.
Ask them about their relationship with Ken Lay to get Houston’s sports stadiums deal and how they’missed’ the corruption at Enron.
Ask them about the letter LBJ held securing positive press for LBJ’s admin in exchange for approving a bank merger.
Ahhhh the Progressive mind.....ever building things no one wants or will use
Take a look at Jerry Brown’s wet dream to get an idea of how it will turn out
Just raise the gas tax a little more, and you can connect the Brown train to the Texas train.
I suggest they consult with the folks in charge of the California High Speed Rail project and get helpful hints on how to succeed.
The CA rail project was supposed to cost $33 billion and be operational by 2020. This was how it was sold to voters. So far, the cost is currently $68 billion and expected to climb over $100 billion, and the train is not expected to be operational until 2030. Over budget and behind schedule, that’s how projects should run—if you are a liberal democrat and have no concept of how projects should be run.
Plus, there are the environmental hazards of such a train. How is wildlife ever going to get out of the way of such a train when it comes speeding by? The first segment of the train that is supposed to be completed is between Bakersfield and San Jose—seriously? And those promoting the project really think that profits from ridership between Bakersfield and San Jose is going to cover construction costs? How does this come even close to the promised goal of San Francisco to LA in 2h 40m?
I think such a project in TX will be just as large a boondoggle.
The problem with any kind of rail in the US is that our population is concentrated in small pockets of high density, while most of the country is very low density. Advocates of rail can point to the successes in Asia or Europe, but the areas in which rail is successful are high density areas and can generate the ridership needed to make the trains cost-effective. There is a big difference in cost when the distance between stations can be several hundred miles, as opposed to fifty miles or less, as in Asia or Europe.
I love trains, but we have to be realistic on their viability in the US.
Control Freaks (progressives, communists, socialists, central planners) love them some choo-choos.
They have visions of all those commuters calling each other “comrade,” while trapped for hours each day, reading columns from the NYT to each other, saying, “Did you see this one, comrade? They are opening a new arts center for us!”
But the central planners won’t be on the trains. Their names will be on the stations, no doubt, though.
Sounds like Moonbeam should become the governor of Texas when he leaves office in California. He just LOVES choo-choos and he is an expert at managing such projects.
Or the horrid visual blight from “wind farms.” Gorgeous vistas on million of acres gone forever because we bow down to the global warming hysteria and lie.
“building things no on wants or will use”
Well, there’s always Houstonian Melanie Sowell dreams of being on that train and 90 minutes away from family rather than four hours.
There’s at least one ticket that will sold. So how can you claim nobody will use it when Melanie is SO looking forward to riding on it?
Their fetish with trains is REALLY bizarre, isn’t it? You can get from Dallas to Houston on a plane in one hour for $210.
They claim to be so, so modern and progressive in everything, yet they are stuck on this 1840s transportation system for some weird reason. If they are so intent on conserving the past way of life, maybe they are actually “conservatives.”
They tend to fall in love with some things the way they are and will never consider giving them up no matter how bad those things are: Government run health care; government run schools; murdering babies; riding choo-choos.
The people building this crap have NO IDEA how it’s going to make money and about the only way it saves time (versus driving) is if you happen to live in walking distance to the train station and your destination is in walking distance from the station, and you don’t need a car at your destination. Even then, the savings is minimal.
But if you’re in the other 99% of riders, then it goes something like this:
0600 - Leave for Station
0800 - Train departs (prior to that you have parking/taxi, TSA, bag check, and platform time)
0930 - Train gets to Dallas
1030 - Leave with rental car (assuming that rental cars even bother to locate there)
1115 - Arrive at destination
If you drive:
0600 - Leave for Dallas
1000 - Arrive at destination
(drive time is 3 hr, 20 min, some margin for a stop)
Supposedly the price of a ticket will match the cost of driving - so 2 people will cost half (each), if they drive, 3 people even less.
...and then you have SELF-DRIVING cars which will likely be operational by the time this crap is built, and that changes EVERYTHING.
Bottom line, no need to tear up land, or waste $15 Billion. Buy some carriers with it - we actually do need those.
And the sign next to it should read And I Own a Backhoe.
I don’t think Moonbeams gas tax will survive the ballot box, no matter how many bogus polls they run. Gas has already hit $4 at some big name stations, and it’s just beginning. The dems can’t even depend on the illegal vote on this, because they all drive and are adversely affected.
Actually, I don’t think liberals are particularly oriented to like trains. A good example of pro train attitude would be a desire to electrify our current lines. And leave the speed at current levels. Result, no more diesel fuel being used for trains. (Yes, I know the power has to come from somewhere — perhaps nuclear or solar along the route.)
And speaking of the route, there is already a highway between Dallas and Houston, why not use that for the right of way and make grade separation at the cross streets, result, the land owners along the route would not be displaced in the name of progress.
That $15billion isn’t considered wasted by the people receiving it.
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