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Actually I have a different take Lanier's decision to kill rail. At the time it was a smart move, because for the same amount of money as rail would have required he was able to do a lot of street repair and road expansion, AND implement one of the best express bus systems in the country. Yeah, many people don't want to ride the bus, but many others will and do, coming in from Spring, Kingwood, FM 1960, the far ends of Westheimer, etc. And all that road construction made a huge difference, Houston was one of only a couple of metro areas to reduce their congestion level. While all the liberals were screaming that you can't build your way out of congestion, Houston proved them wrong. One of the few things Lanier did right.

I can assure you any rail plan in the Katy Freeway corridor, no matter what mode is proposed, will have plenty of stations with walkway brides over the freeway to side lots, businesses, and apartments.

Metro will unveil a new proposal for a regionwide rail plan later this year. Its likely to be a boondoggle proposing light-rail all over the city, with vague promises of service to the far suburbs fine-printed as 20-30 years out. For far less money they could provide the same service with much less light-rail and commuter rail instead for most of the corridors. Plus there are existing freight railroad lines in most corridors that could add commuter trains relatively cheaply compared to light-rail, which would require a separate right-of-way and electrical lines. But the latter solution wouldn't make near as much money for Lee Brown's developer cronies, nor waste money for expensive toy trains through vote-fraud rich districts. Why serve more commuters with better service(15-30 minutes faster each way than light-rail) when you can pretend to do so and reap oodles of campaign donations?(among other perks)

But more importantly, it is not conclusive that now is the time to start building any rail projects in Houston. Someday it will provide a needed commute alternative, and greatly expanded commuter rail is where Dallas-Fort Worth is headed in the next 30 YEARS.