The company behind the proposed Dallas-to-Houston bullet train has selected two locations as possible sites for a Dallas high-speed rail station.
One site is undeveloped land located south of downtown Dallas at the South Side on Lamar. The second site would extend over Interstate 30 into downtown -- it includes part of the South Side land, as well as property next to the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
“I am excited about high-speed rail moving ahead," Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said in a statement. "Both options have the possibility of serving as catalysts for tremendous growth in the city, and I am extremely interested in seeing a deck over Interstate 30, bridging these two vibrant areas of our city and further enhancing what could be an iconic addition to the City of Dallas.”
Texas Central Railway wants to build a Dallas-to-Houston corridor for a 200-mph electric train, like the ones that operate in Japan. It would be faster than any train operating in the United States. Passengers could get from Dallas to Houston in about 90 minutes. Construction could begin in 2017 and service could start as early as 2021, railway officials have said.
Texas Central Railway says it needs 10 to 20 acres of land for the station, parking and space for transit-oriented development.
Mapping the two options
Option 1: South Side on Lamar in South Dallas and south of Interstate 30
Option 2: In South Dallas and in downtown
Matthews Southwest will serve as the development partner of the Dallas high-speed rail station and surrounding areas for transit-oriented development.
“High-speed rail has proven to be transformational wherever it is deployed," Jack Matthews, president of Matthews Southwest, said in a statement. "These two candidate Dallas station locations will serve as a tremendous catalyst for growth in Dallas, specifically South Dallas, while also serving as a building block for high-speed rail connectivity into Arlington and Fort Worth."
Texas Central Railway hasn’t announced a preferred station location in Houston. The company says it is also considering an intermediate station that would serve Bryan/College Station and Huntsville.
High-speed rail advocates in Texas believe the private Dallas-to-Houston project could jump-start a network of high-speed routes across the state. The U.S. Department of Transportation is already talking with mayors in Austin and San Antonio about connecting their cities.
Last October, North Texans got their first chance to see proposed routes from Dallas to Houston. Here’s what we reported last fall:
People got nearly giddy over the possibility of taking a high-speed train. “Because you can talk on a cell phone, you can work while you’re commuting between both cities,” says Raquel Olivier, a businesswoman who sometimes makes the Dallas to Houston trip each week.
Learn more about the Dallas-to-Houston route
Here's a KERA story from 2013 about the Dallas-to-Houston route:
Texas Central’s president, Robert Eckels, says Dallas-to-Houston tickets would cost about 80 percent of a plane ticket. He claims the non-stop bullet train would be more reliable and convenient than flying or driving. “Short-haul flights have gotten to be more and more a hassle,” Eckels said. “You have to go through security and weather delays. … Our trains will be running within one minute of scheduled performance. They’re not delayed by weather. There’s no magnetometer or X-ray machine to go through."
Explore Texas Central Railway's website and learn more about the bullet train plans.
Here's a video from Texas Central Railway
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6igUibrfwc
