Lone Star Rail District (former ASA Rail)
www.lonestarrail.com
LSTAR will be the name of the passenger rail service linking Austin and San Antonio. |
Very interesting. I wonder how long it will take to get this service going?
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They just got funding to start the environmental studies. For a project over 100 miles in length in four large Texas counties, this will take a minimum of two years. After the EIS studies, there's usually around a 6 month waiting period for public comments, and another 6 months to publish answers to those comments. Then they have to wait for the FTA and FRA to bless the project with formula funds. That's when you start the two year process of designing the project including the train stations and parking lots. Then another two years to build the project. And that assumes everything goes right, that no one pops up opposing it, and money becomes available. Additionally, the UP corridor they wish to use is crowded with freights, therefore why you read about moving the freight trains to an alternate corridor. That will also require additional money and additional environmental studies of its own. Moving freight trains off this corridor makes this project very complicated and potentially very expensive. Because the corridor is over 100 miles in length, it was already going to be expensive. Whereas I would prefer local control of this rail project, I think this is one project that might be better for Amtrak to run and control, with Texas financial support....... |
First they have to figure out what to do with the UP trains that run down those tracks.
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Commuter rail between SA and Austin
From www.ksat.com
http://www.ksat.com/news/21566591/detail.html State Senator Talks About Need For Rail Lines POSTED: Monday, November 9, 2009 UPDATED: 7:02 pm CST November 9, 2009 SAN ANTONIO -- A San Antonio state senator Monday talked about the need for a rail line that would run from San Antonio to Austin. Rail lines are needed, according to State Sen. Jeff Wentworth. He said more and more people are moving to San Antonio from states like Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. He said San Antonio must get ready for more population growth. Wentworth said Monday the most congested part of I-35 from the Mexican border to the Canadian border is the stretch from San Antonio to Austin. Wentworth said The Lone Star Rail District has already taken several steps to get a 16 station rail line up and running. The district has the funds to do an environmental study. It is also working with Union Pacific Railroad secure using rail lines that connect Austin and San Antonio. Once the studies are done and the 800 million dollar financing is secured for the passenger rail, it could be operation in within five years. Enough talk...Let's get this $h!t going!!! |
I merged these two threads. There's also another thread going in the main transportation section of the forum.
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From LSTAR's website:
http://www.lonestarrail.com/ Quote:
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Map of the route and stops:
http://lonestarrail.com/images/temp/map/map-large.jpg http://lonestarrail.com/index.php/lstar/map/ |
Key facts about the line:
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I would love for this to get built. One of the stations is just 3 miles from me. I would absolutely use this. I can see the train tracks from my backyard.
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Thing is didn't somewhere it said something about it taking like 90 minutes to go from DT Austin to DT San Antonio? if that's true it's not a whole lot quicker than driving down there lol. Cause you can drive down to SA in an hour without traffic on 35 or going 281
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Someone in the other thread had said that wouldn't be a problem, but really in Texas you have to make it more attractive to get people to take the train over driving. Sure, you'd be beating traffic on the train, but people are still chained to their cars so much that it had better be faster. People can't get over the idea of not using a car to get around. It's like people don't know any better--or anything different.
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yeah I mean I would love for this to be up and running I would defanatly ride it once and a while but I would probably drive down there more so I had a car to get around SA.
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Unless they move the 24 UP freight trains off the single track corridor, it'll take far longer than what you can drive it. Assuming the Lone Star trains can achieve the same average speed of the Texas Eagle (~45 mph), it'll take over two hours to ride the entire 100 miles. Considering the Lone Star trains will be stopping at far more train stations than the Texas Eagle, let's just be kind and suggest it'll take at least three hours to ride the entire 100 miles.......
To average faster speeds, the freight trains must be moved. The main problem with that is that there isn't an alternative route today, and building one will cost anywhere from $800 Million to $2+ Billion. Add those costs to those putting the Lone Star into service, another $800+ Million, and this commuter rail project costs soar. Considering a brand new high speed rail line is also being considered between San Antonio and Austin, and all the way to Dallas-Fort Worth, it might be best to wait and build it instead. No reason for building both trains. But since neither train has been fully financed, I guess there's no harm doing environmental studies for both. The major capital costs don't arise until one starts to build them. |
What's nice about the Lone Star is it will come straight into Austin the high Speed rail from SA to Dallas would run east of Austin right?
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Here's a San Marcos article about it:
http://www.sanmarcosmercury.com/archives/10637 |
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By the map, it looks as though this project will benefit SA International Airport much more than Bergstrom Airport.
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I do think the trains would still be faster time wise than driving. Trains obviously wouldn't have the traffic issue that I-35 deals with on a daily basis. Good grief, they're doing some roadwork on I-35 right now south of Slaughter past SH-45, and it's bumper to bumper for miles every night. Quote:
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Here's a map that shows the railroad tracks in Austin. The pink line near the bottom goes to the airport. The blue line of course is the one that goes to San Antonio. The purple one goes up through Hutto and Taylor and eventually goes all the way to Houston. http://www.stayoffthetracks.com/i/map_freight.jpg http://www.stayoffthetracks.com/ |
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