High Speed Rail: On Track
For nearly a year, I have been in constant contact with Nancy, a younger family member who lived in Japan for a year teaching English. She recently returned home to her beloved Houston and the next day returned to the University of Houston for advanced studies. Nancy and her friends traveled extensively over Japan with ease via the acclaimed rail system without incident. Several years ago, I interviewed a former Lincoln High School graduate who spent two years in China teaching English.
In Shanghai, China, they boast the fastest commercial train in the world which operates at a speed of 431km(268 mph).
For decades we have heard about the ‘high speed rail’ transportation in Japan and China from students and various world travelers. Shinkansen Trains, Japan, are celebrating their 50th anniversary. The famed bullet train claims to be the world’s longest high speed rail. The Hayabusa is the fastest train in Japan with a maximum speed of 320km (200mph).
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)has issued the Draft Environmental Impact Statement(EIS) for the proposed Dallas-to-Houston High Speed Rail Project. This route, the first in the nation, will connect North Texas and South Texas. A series of public hearings are being held in and around the State of Texas now ending on March 9, 2018. I attended the public hearing held at Wilmer Hutchins High School in January, 2018. (You can stay up-to-date on this project:www.fra.dot.gov/pageP0700 or just Google: Texas High Speed Rail Project). This project is estimated to create more than 10,000 jobs and will cross ten(10)counties in Texas. The current proposal is to construct and operate a 240 mile, for profit, train system connecting Dallas and Houston using the Japanese N700 Tokaido Shinkansen technology. This technology is totally electric. This is a proposed 90 minute trip on a ‘closed’ system, meaning that the train will run on dedicated tracks. . . not sharing any intersection with roadways. Amazingly and as initially proposed the tracks will run mainly on elevated tracks and beams adjacent to crossings, existing infrastructure, which will not interfere with wildlife, wetlands, floodplains, and the forever favorite Texas Bluebonnet fields we all enjoy. As imagined, there is direct and absolute opposition to the high speed rail in Texas. But progress speaks.
There are definite advantages to having the high speed rail first and in Texas. Texas has a projected growth pattern over the next decade that will demand an environmental way to move and protect the population. Texas and its agencies cannot control the growth. As soon as we complete a freeway, it is overwhelmingly crowded and toll tags on tollways are NOT the answer. Texas has the land mass and the rail will lead to net reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. Without the high speed rail, we can expect a 200% increase in vehicular traffic on I45 between Dallas and Houston shortly. Let’s face a simple fact. Our travel demand is increasing so rapidly and our infrastructure deteriorating even faster, we cannot keep up with the growing demand. We need a proactive and aggressive transportation plan for all the growing cities in Texas and beyond.
Can we please move into the 21st Century. Tell the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) you support the Texas Bullet Train.
Ester Davis can be reached
@estyler2000@aol.com or
214.376.9000
