Its completely silly. From Longview, it takes 1.5 hours to drive to Dallas if the traffic is bad and there is construction. I just looked up Amtrak’s schedule and going by rail takes 3 hours not counting the wait at the station. Then, when you get to Dallas, unless you want to do something around the station, you’ll need a taxi or rental car.
Its completely silly. From Longview, it takes 1.5 hours to drive to Dallas if the traffic is bad and there is construction
Mapquest says that it takes 2hrs and 6 minutes to travel the 128 mile difference.
To do it in 1.5 hrs as you suggest, you'd have to be averaging over 85 mph.
However, I agree that Amtrak's schedule for this segment is slow in this day in age.
Fortunately, it can be dramatically improved simply by eliminating the bottlenecks and scheduling conflicts with the freight traffic along that route.
In fact, since the Texas rail rights-of-way aren't as hemmed in as they are along the Eastern Seaboard, I bet the existing freight right-of-way can be inexpensively widened to accommodate separate passenger traffic. Amtrak's Acela technology is capable of speeds up to 150 mph on suitable track, without the need for the more expensive Japanese Bullet train technology.
So the current Amtrak travel time can readily be cut in half, if Texans so choose.