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Economy
Texas Contract for $16 B High-Speed Train
2021-06-19
[Engineering News Record] Nearly two years after announcing the award of a design-build contract between The Lane Construction Corp. and joint-venture partner Webuild Group to build a high-speed railway between Dallas and Houston for Texas Central, the final agreement on the design-build project has been signed.

This moves the project to the advanced design stage and also finalizes its cost at $16 billion. While one challenge to the line was dismissed by Texas' high court on June 18, other challenges remain.

Construction is now expected to begin at the end of 2021 or early 2022, says Erin Ragsdale, Texas Central spokeswoman.

After full notice to proceed, the privately funded project has a six-to-seven-year base construction schedule, Ragsdale adds.

The final contract states that Lane and Webuild will execute all the heavy construction for the project, and design and build all 236 miles of the alignment, the entire track system, along with the buildings and services for maintenance and other equipment, including industrial buildings, train depots and facilities. Almost half of the railway will be elevated to reduce impacts on residents and landowners.
I could've been working on this for the last three years, but decided to stay retired.
Posted by:Bobby

#18  
118 MPH about 2 hours

Bullet trains vary in speed, although most travel between 150 and 187 miles per hour. The Shinkansen averaged 100 mph to 131 mph (160 kph to 210 kph) in its earlier days. Newer parts of the Japanese network average 163 mph (261 kph) and boast an upper range of 187 mph (300 kph)
Posted by: Clealing Gleater2810   2021-06-19 22:08  

#17  
$16 Billion divided by 236 miles = $67,796,610/ mile

Approximately 78.8 Miles per hour average speed.

Posted by: Clealing Gleater2810   2021-06-19 22:01  

#16  #13 has it - Private $, Private $ Loss
Posted by: Frank G   2021-06-19 21:29  

#15  Blew my fuzzy little mind a while back trying to guesstimate what kinda bus setup California could buy with that train money. Came up with something like a bus every thirty seconds between SD and SF, sixteen hours a day. No fare. So... we just solved "homelessness" too.
Posted by: Butch Gurly-Brown8928   2021-06-19 20:46  

#14  Trains are a cheap way to move freight. The only thing cheaper is by ship. (Anyone up for the West Texas Extension to the Intercoastal Waterway?)

For high-speed people moving, you want rocket trains. Or maybe leave off the train part and just rockets. It's the 21st Century, people.
We're talking the 3:10 to LEO!
Posted by: SteveS   2021-06-19 19:30  

#13  Only politicians would fall for this boondoggle.

Unlike California high speed rail, this is private money and the risk is theirs. The money will be spent in TX and taxes collected.

There has been talk, for as long as NAFTA has been in effect, of an I-35 rail corridor to transship Mexican imports. This would follow the general route. Add a spur into Mexico...
Posted by: Ebbaimp Phaitle6006   2021-06-19 19:04  

#12  
Posted by: Bill Clunk9066   2021-06-19 18:49  

#11  
Posted by: Bill Clunk9066   2021-06-19 18:43  

#10  
And I was soooo looking forward to the re-establishment of a Great Texas Tradition by the Wakandans

Posted by: Bill Clunk9066   2021-06-19 18:34  

#9  Only politicians would fall for this boondoggle. You can drive it in four hours or fly it in 45 minutes.

This is Texas, for God's sake! We don't need no stinking trains!
Posted by: Javiter Dark Lord of the Faith7963   2021-06-19 17:34  

#8  Amtrak NorthEast

Posted by: Bill the Weasel5085   2021-06-19 16:06  

#7  For # 3
Man, what were driving a bicycle ?
I used to do Boston to Buffalo in 5hrs 45min
in my red 1966 VW Bug 4-cyl. 1285cc/50hp 1bbl with manual transmission. The secret was floor the gas pedal going down the hills and mountains (click click click sound on the 80 mph speedo)
so you could get up the next hill or mountain, speed limit was 70mph back then.
Got stopped by NY State Police 🚨 once ...
I explained my methodology to my driving, he gave me a warning âš  and told me to "do the speed limit", then he followed me for about six miles.
I kept to the 70mph down hill and floored it going up hill, my speed kept sinking as my Bug struggled to even maintain 45mph - the minimum for the Interstates at the time.
After two more hills the SPO turned on his lights and motioned for me to pull over as I was going up the hill. I did, he got out of the car, walked up to my car, I rolled down the window and he said,
"Sir, After what I have witnessed I must issue you a warning âš  you were doing 39 mph in a 70 mph zone coming up this hill, its a warning not a ticket, but you should not be driving this car on the Interstate if it can not do the minimum 45 mph." He wrote up the warning and handed it to me and told me to affix it to my passenger side windshield. Then he said, "While it is against my better judgement, I believe you should go back to your former way of driving the Interstate to get to your destination. I'm saying this because I don't want to see you run over by a tractor trailer going up and down these hills."
Posted by: Clatle Johnson6602   2021-06-19 15:15  

#6  Et tu Tex?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru PB   2021-06-19 14:34  

#5  I'm not saying that stretch is a peach, but every time I see High Speed Train...
Posted by: swksvolFF   2021-06-19 13:12  

#4  3 hours on I-45.
Depending on traffic it can take almost that long to just get across Dallas (or Houston.)
Posted by: Glenmore   2021-06-19 12:05  

#3  Sometime after 9/11 my best friend was thinking of going back to Buffalo (he's in the Boston area like I am). I told him I could drive to Buffalo faster than he could fly there (I once drove it in about 7 1/2 hours). We hashed it out numberswise and figured it would be pretty close.
Posted by: Raj   2021-06-19 09:56  

#2  Well the fare would have to be less than an airline ticket
The stations more accessible than airports and there has to be intermodal connections with Amtrak airports and public transportation for this to work
Hopefully Texas is smart enough to avoid the Charlie Foxtrot train to nowhere that Californicate is building
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom    2021-06-19 09:32  

#1  between Dallas and Houston

My drive, @300 miles door to door, would take about 3 hours on I-45.
Posted by: Skidmark   2021-06-19 09:07  

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