Quote:
Originally Posted by Novacek
|
Not costing that much? First, freight sidings are usually built on land already owned by the railroad, so there's no additional property to buy. A new rail corridor, even in the middle of nowhere, the railroad has to spend to buy or get access to the corridor, 50 to 100 feet wide.
So, automatically its going to cost more than building a freight siding.
Additionally, freight sidings are not usually built or maintained for normal speeds, freight trains run very slowly on the sidings. If you don't believe me, ride the Texas Eagle or Sunset Limited, when they are routed to the passing sidings they go very slow (like 10 mph). The UP will want their trains going faster than 10 mph.
Two of TexRail stations in downtown Fort Worth are already built. The TRE using both of them every day they operate, and Amtrak using one of them every day. But I will admit building train stations will be expensive, but that's a chore Lone Star Rail will have to do too on the existing UP rail corridor. So the argument TexRail's station expenses add to their total cost but not for Lone Star Rail is also false.
Lets review the projected per mile cost of the proposed Texas Central HSR line. 250 miles long corridor projected to cost at least $10 Billion. That averages around $40 Million/mile. That's $40 Million/mile for double tracks - you can't assume it will be $20 Million/mile for single track because the width of the right-of-way will be the same in either case. A single track corridor will be between $20 and $40 Million/mile. I'll acknowledge that HSR includes double tracking and electrical catenaries that UP will not need. The idea that HSR can be built as cheaply as DCTA's A-Train can't possibly be true considering DCTA did not have to buy any land for the right-of-way, lay double tracks, nor install catenaries.
Again, I suggest the study is releasing false information when it comes to costs.
Threaded Mode