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Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse
Where are the stations for the current rail service?
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Texas Central is planning on running non FRA compliant Japanese built HSR trains. They will not be able to share tracks at the existing stations Amtrak visits anyways. They will not be using the current stations.
In Dallas, Amtrak visits Union Station located south of the historic famous triple underpass downtown. It has three platforms and 5 tracks for passenger trains. Two of the tracks are for light rail, two more of the tracks are for commuter rail, and one of the tracks is for Amtrak use. The commuter tracks can be shared with Amtrak. None of the tracks can be shared with non-FRA compliant HSR trains.
The downtown station in Houston lies north of Buffalo Bayou, on the outskirts if downtown Houston. It has one platform and one track for Amtrak to use. That sole track can't be used by non-FRA compliant trains, HSR or not.
Neither current downtown train station have a large enough footprint to include HSR.
Texas Central will be building brand new train stations for it's HSR trains along with entirely new HSR tracks in a corridor yet to be selected. The trains will not be sharing tracks at those stations. Where they will build the new stations hasn't been finalized. Their management have frequently stated having transit access in the future will be nice, but not a necessity. What they consider a major necessity is good highway access to their train stations.