Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee pressing for bullet train between Houston and Dallas

Houston Chronicle ^ | April 5, 2012

[BradtotheBone]

Officials in Japan and South Korea are telling Houston-area Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee that they are interested in helping Texas build a high-speed rail line between Houston and Dallas.

The Houston Democrat said the foreign officials described their interest to her during an official congressional visit to Japan, South Korea and China.

“This is absolutely the right direction America should be moving toward,” said Jackson Lee, who traveled between Osaka and Tokyo on Japan’s world famous high speed rail system.

“We should be looking at high-speed rail that can provide clean, safe and efficient transportation that can move people from one destination to another,” the lawmaker said in a statement issued by her office.

Jackson Lee said she had fought hard to secure initial funding for Texas’ high-speed rail line from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The potential high-speed rail route between Houston and Dallas will include only one or two stops in between.

“Japanese and South Korean officials both expressed interest in supporting and providing high-speed rail in the state of Texas,” Jackson Lee’s statement said.

The lawmaker said she was working to arrange visits to Houston by the foreign officials so they could “see first-hand our needs and plans for an expanded rail transportation system.”

[backwoods-engineer]

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee pressing for bullet train between Houston and Dallas

That's fine.

Build it out of gold-pressed latinum if you want.

WITH TEXAS MONEY.

Not a damn dime of Federal money should go to this boondoggle, or any other light rail project anywhere in the country.

We are fresh out of Federal money, and are now paying our interest payments with income taxes, while we borrow more and more and more.

[Publius6961]

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee pressing for bullet train between Houston and Dallas

Uhh....

Maybe somebody should explain to her that that does NOT mean "Blacks only, free bullets provided."

[Publius6961]

WTF is it with libs and High Speed Trains?

Pssst.
Welfare "employment."
Unions.

And control over people who eventually rely on it.

[Publius6961]

nor could she be stupid enough to think that when a person travels they start at their destination. She’s not THAT stupid, is she?

Yes and yes.

You forgot all your ebonics, fool?

[liberalh8ter]

That's right.....they're pissed because Houstonians don't regard them as Texans.

[Grams A]

in my experience, no one from Dallas ever wants to go to Houston.”

And we certainly don’t want to go to Dallas - so there!

[af_vet_rr]

If Sheila is for it, I’m agin’ it.

Having been stationed in Europe and Japan, I've been interested in high-speed passenger rail in Texas for years - Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin.

But I'm opposed to anything Jackson Lee gets involved with, and at this point, the airlines will not allow high speed rail in Texas. Anybody who thinks they can get around the airlines and their lobbyists is high on something.

With all of the security bullsh!t these days, flying commercial between Houston and Dallas would take far longer than even some of the lower-speed high-speed rail systems.

[Fedupwithit]

(Background singing in hushed tones...)

'Monorail...monorail...monorail...'

[BobP]

[Secret Agent Man]

I am offended a liberal is using the word “bullet” not in its proper context.

[Antoninus II]

Let’s first try to install a bullet train from Houston to Katy.

Exactly!! But that corridor is already crowded! And unless you're employed in downtown Houston what's the point? All Metro bus lines are inbound in the morning as well as HOV lanes. Most of Houston's bigger employers (Manufacturers) are on the outer fringes of the city limits.

[smokingfrog]

Money down a Rat hole.........