Texas as a whole has half of France’s population.
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Not to mention the mentality.
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Big surprise lol.
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Seems like anything other than an underground downtown Dallas stop would be self-sabotage for Texas HSR, almost akin to a LV-LA HSR terminal in Rancho Cucamonga…
Although for the love of god, anything but this nonsense:
Among the ideas being touted is an elevated gondola-style system called Whoosh by Swyft Cities, a Google spinoff company, that could be used in five cities — Arlington, Dallas, DeSoto, Frisco and Plano. The transportation system uses an aerial network of cables and rails to move people.
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This country has a fetish for Whoosh, hyperloop, monorails, peoplemovers, etc. It is a malignant disease, and there is no cure.
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Can’t say that I blame them. Elevated lines get dirty and are ugly.
Dallas is one of the ugliest places in the country.
Adding elevated high-speed rail will not make it any more or less ugly.
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What a saga.
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DALLAS — More details are emerging about why one of the wealthiest developers in North Texas is fighting a potential high-speed bullet train route connecting Dallas and Fort Worth.
Dallas-based Hunt Realty Investments, one of the companies controlled by businessman Ray Hunt and his family, has sent multiple letters to the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) opposing one of the proposed routes.
The Dallas City Council greenlit an economic development study in October on a new high-speed rail route between Dallas and Fort Worth that would run west of Downtown Dallas between the Trinity River and South Riverfront Boulevard before cutting across Houston Street and I-35E before reaching a station in the Cedars.
Amtrak is in charge of the line connecting Dallas and Houston and officials hope if both the Dallas-to-Houston and Dallas-to-Fort Worth lines are built, they’ll be connected eventually.
Hunt Realty Investments, though, has sent a slate of letters to the NCTCOG calling on them to abandon any action on an earlier proposed route for the bullet train that went through Downtown Dallas. The Dallas City Council passed a resolution voting against that route last June after some council members expressed concerns it could interfere with those developments.
Here’s an outline of Hunt Realty Investments’ concerns.
Hunt Realty Investments’ new issues with the bullet train route
Among the concerns Hunt Realty Investments raises in the letters obtained by WFAA was that the route could negatively impact Martyrs Park, the Trinity River Corridor, and some West Dallas neighborhoods and potentially even threaten the Texas electric grid.
The letters sent to NCTCOG on behalf of Hunt Realty Investments also cite a report from economist Ray Perryman that the route would cause billions of dollars in damages to the city.
Hunt Realty also argues in the letters that the bullet train would only travel 74 mph on average, wouldn’t be faster than driving on I-30’s TEXpress managed lanes and that the Trinity Railway Express is a better alternative to connect Dallas and Fort Worth.
“[The bullet train route] could not be considered ‘high-speed rail’ given the inability of a train to achieve and sustain the speed necessary to be considered ‘high-speed’ due to the short route and the proposed stop at the Arlington Entertainment District,” a letter read. “NCTCOG admits that the Trinity Railway Express (the “TRE”), which Michael Morris [of NCTCOG] calls the ‘backbone of the region,’ can be advanced to achieve a time competitive to [the bullet train’s] estimated speeds and travel time between Downtown Dallas and Downtown Fort Worth.”
Hunt Realty Investments also argues that the route, which also included a stop in the Arlington Entertainment District, would benefit Arlington over Dallas.
“This collusion by NCTCOG regarding [the bullet train] will cause a funnel of consumer dollars from the City of Dallas to the Arlington Entertainment District, the letter read.
Hunt Realty Investments also alleges in its letter that the NCTCOG hasn’t followed National Environmental Policy Act procedures in its environmental assessment for the bullet train route.
Reunion Tower and Hyatt Regency bullet train impacts Hunt previously alleged
The Hunt Realty Investments letters also discuss issues and allegations they’d previously raised publicly, including that the earlier proposed route through Downtown Dallas would threaten the economic viability of the new $3 billion Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, Hunt Realty’s planned $6 billion Hunt Reunion development, as well as Reunion Tower and Reunion Hyatt Regency.
“NCTCOG misrepresented to the FTA [Federal Transit Administration] that [the bullet train] would not ‘cause significant change in land use,’ even though it would forever alter and massively negatively impact the future economic and urban growth of Dallas’ Central Business District, including to the planned multibillion Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center and the six-billion dollar planned Hunt Reunion development,” one letter from Hunt Realty alleged.
Hunt also alleges that one of the routes proposed for the bullet train violates a 1975 agreement between Hunt and the city of Dallas.
NCTCOG OKs funding for potential litigation related to the bullet train
In January, the NCTCOG’s Regional Transportation Council approved up to $1 million – to be issued in $250,000 increments – for use in a potential legal battle over the high-speed rail route between Fort Worth to Dallas.
The pre-emptive action came after North Central Texas Council of Governments staff said they had received numerous letters from Hunt Realty and other Hunt-related entities about the proposed high-speed rail route connecting Dallas and Fort Worth.
“Just in terms of internal legal resources, we have a pretty lean team here at COG – it’s two of us,” NCTCOG legal counsel Ken Kirkpatrick said at the time. “I think, pointing back to the October letter that we preserve, not destroy documents related to this particular topic – in reality that’s a precursor to litigation. They’re sending a signal when you get done with the EA, whatever the final decision is, if we don’t like it, we’re going to litigation.”
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