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wonder why Dallas to Houston hasn't been mentioned as a viable route for passenger rail.
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Texans don't ride trains; they rob them.
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I've been looking at that. Amtrak has 14 trains each way on that route. About 1 million riders per annum ($20 million in fares), if you include the Philadelphia to NYC traffic. Electrification, completed last year, cost $145 million. Driving time and train riding time are now about the same.Originally posted by lord of the mark
I would immediately add Philly-Harrisburg,
That seems to have been a reasonable investment. Amtrak owns those tracks so probably had more leeway, apparently unlike the Chicago - Milwaukee line.Last edited by DanS; December 6, 2007, 11:29.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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When places like Russia and Turkey have high speed rail and the US doesn't then you know our government is slacking. Even Croatia is building a high speed rail line.Try http://wordforge.net/index.php for discussion and debate.Comment
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They might be slacking, but I don't think this is much of an indication of it.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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Russia and Turkey don't have highways and high car ownership or effective regional air travel. We had a choice back in the 50s-60s and we chose highway, so thats what we have.when places like Russia and Turkey have high speed rail and the US doesn't then you know our government is slacking. Even Croatia is building a high speed rail line."The DPRK is still in a state of war with the U.S. It's called a black out." - Che explaining why orbital nightime pictures of NK show few lights. Seriously.Comment
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Dallas to Houston will not work. Dallas is the least densely populated major metro area in the world by some accounts. Probably over half of DFW lives farther from downtown Dallas than me, and it takes me about 40 minutes to drive there in the middle of the night. Most people would rather spend that time getting to Houston rather than fighting their way downtown.Got my new computer!!!!Comment
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A. Some folks fly from Dallas to Houston. ISTR a small airline that got started that way, Southwest I think its calledOriginally posted by Brizey
Dallas to Houston will not work. Dallas is the least densely populated major metro area in the world by some accounts. Probably over half of DFW lives farther from downtown Dallas than me, and it takes me about 40 minutes to drive there in the middle of the night. Most people would rather spend that time getting to Houston rather than fighting their way downtown.
B. Half of the population lives on the far side of Dallas from Houston.
C. Theres no reason there cant be a stop on the southern outskirts of the Dallas Metroplex. To see how this works, check out the New Carrolton MD Amtrak station, or the Metropark, NJ station."A person cannot approach the divine by reaching beyond the human. To become human, is what this individual person, has been created for.” Martin BuberComment
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Doesn't Dallas already have some light rail/commuter rail? DART? Aren't they adding track at a pretty fast clip? This could provide a good feeder system, over time. My uncle lives in Plano and he mentioned that they have a handful of high-rises around the station.
As discussed above, Houston has almost nuthin'. I'm sure that even Cincinnati's train station is bustling by comparison.Last edited by DanS; December 7, 2007, 16:40.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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DFW does indeed have light rail (see, us Texans are what you call progressive). It really is not too bad. It is cheap (free if you have the guts), and it is pretty reliable. Just doesn't go enough places. Let me splain:
DFW is about 5 million people. Pretty big. But it is spread out over about 9000 square miles (Dallas-Ft. Worth-Arlington CMSA). That is not a typo. Anna, TX to Burleson, TX, both suburbs of Dallas and Fort Worth, are almost 90 miles apart by car. To put things into perpsective, the Philidelphia metro area is about the same size in population yet it is only a little more than 5000 square miles.
So, you can be pretty close to Dallas yet really far from a Dart station. I am at least a twenty minute drive from a station, probably close to 30 at rush hour. They would have to massively expand the rail system to make it a more ubiquitous mode of transit. Like maybe tenfold.Got my new computer!!!!Comment
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But to be fair: population centers are a lot closer together in Europe than they are in the U.S. -- especially the Western U.S.Originally posted by Patroklos
Russia and Turkey don't have highways and high car ownership or effective regional air travel. We had a choice back in the 50s-60s and we chose highway, so thats what we have.
F'zample: A friend of my loves to ski. He often drives from L.A. to Mammoth Mountain to do so. Last winter, he flew to northern Italy to ski. He talked to some skiers who'd driven down from England, and discovered that the car trip from England to Italy was almost the same as from L.A. to Mammoth Mountain. We U.S.A.ians tend to forget how big and lightly populated our country is.Comment
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I hear ya. But on the other hand, they're doubling it in the next 5 years, so...Originally posted by Brizey
They would have to massively expand the rail system to make it a more ubiquitous mode of transit. Like maybe tenfold.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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That seems highly unlikely. IIRC the train from Paris to Nice takes something like 7-8 hours, alone. I don't know how fast your friend drives, but it seems to me that unless the people he was talking to drive faster than the TGV, their claim is... well, ludicrous. And if they do drive fasterOriginally posted by Zkribbler
F'zample: A friend of my loves to ski. He often drives from L.A. to Mammoth Mountain to do so. Last winter, he flew to northern Italy to ski. He talked to some skiers who'd driven down from England, and discovered that the car trip from England to Italy was almost the same as from L.A. to Mammoth Mountain. We U.S.A.ians tend to forget how big and lightly populated our country is.
(Keep in mind, in some European countries 160+ mph is a perfectly reasonable highway speed given the right car and a lack of traffic.)"The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists."
-Joan RobinsonComment
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Paris-Nice 940 Km
8h25 by car at max speed of 130Km/h
5h32 by trainStatistical anomaly.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.Comment
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Mammonth Mountain - LA is 325 miles, or about 6 hours by car (plus some if he's southern LA or in traffic, and probably plus a bit when he hits the mountains).<Reverend> IRC is just multiplayer notepad.
I like your SNOOPY POSTER! - While you Wait quote.Comment
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Nice, though, is south of the Alps. On the other hand, Engand is north of Paris.Originally posted by Victor Galis
That seems highly unlikely. IIRC the train from Paris to Nice takes something like 7-8 hours, alone. I don't know how fast your friend drives, but it seems to me that unless the people he was talking to drive faster than the TGV, their claim is... well, ludicrous. And if they do drive faster
Does Europe have something like Mapquest where distances between two cities can be calculated?Comment
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