Semikkah7

We don’t need high speed rail

The CEO of Texas Central says they need the Biden boondoggle infrastructure bill to pass in order to get not one but two loans in excess of $12 Billion in order to build the high speed rail from Dallas to Houston. Senators Manchin and Sanders had a back and forth this week on how much money would be in the infrastructure bill. Manchin finally hit the nail on the head with a number I can agree with- zero dollars.

I’ll go one further. We don’t need the infrastructure bill. And we dont need high speed rail from Dallas to Hoiston either.

Last weekend we drove from Denison (an hour north of Dallas) to Spring (just north of Houston). It took about 4.5 hours. I commented to my wife that if we flew on Southwest it would still take an hour to Dallas. You’d have to be there 90 minutes before the flight so that 2.5 hours. Then the flight is about 30 minutes. Get you bags and rental car is another hour. Then drive to where you are going. So probably five hours to fly.

Rail would require similar time. You’d have to be there early, check in, follow whatever guidelines are necessary. And basically no time savings.

Amtrak is already basically owned by the government due to various bailouts and subsidiary to keep I even remotely affordable to anyone. But if you were going from Dallas to Seatlle, why would you take a train for three days when you could get on a plane and be there in 3 hours.

Some people complain about Musk, Bezos, and Branson flying to space saying it’s a waste of money. My view is who cares if it’s a waste of money (which I don’t think it is) but at least it’s their money, not some government loan that will never be paid back.

However, even if Texas Central was funded privately, it still impacts real Texans negatively. The have to obtain land which they don’t currently own. That means displacing families from their homes.

I say, say no to Texas Central high speed railway. Comment below. What are your thoughts?