HOUSTON-DALLAS BULLET TRAIN SHOWS UP ON TRUMP INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT LIST 
The already-in-lawsuit-phase Dallas-to-Houston high-speed rail project is number 13 on a list of 50 “Emergency & National Security Projects” floated around by the Trump transition folks, according to a report from McClatchy and the Kansas City Star (which posted the document online this week). The list looks closely related to one sent out by the team to the National Governor’s Association late last year, soliciting other ideas for projects that a hypothetical future investment program might target for funding; the bullet train project shows up only on the more detailed version of the list (which could be just another draft). Both versions of the list include the Cotton Belt Line commuter rail project, which would connect Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to Plano. [McClatchyDC via Texas Tribune; previously on Swamplot] Map of proposed high-speed rail routes: Texas Central
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My head is spinning because I agree with Trump on something (it’s a gross and weird feeling) so I can’t imagine what the yokels who are fighting this are thinking. I’m sure Abbott and Patrick will whisper in Trump’s ear that he’s supposed to be against this project and maybe it’ll be removed from the list.
This doesn’t seem as though it is a particularly meaningful update on the actual prospects for construction of the rail line.
That said, should the Trump administration somehow push this through, I would be highly curious to see the percentage of people in the right of way who are adamantly opposed to the line who voted for Trump.
Also on that list is the Lake Pontchartrain causeway: it’s getting shoulders and emergency bays. So your car-trip to NOLA will less unsettling (and safer).
So they’ve abandoned all pretense of this being a privately funded project then?
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“Who is funding the project?
We are! Texas Central is a privately funded company. With a group of primarily Texan investors, we are poised to bring high-speed rail to the State with Texan entrepreneurial values in mind. This project is not backed by public funds.”
I wish you would accentuate all images with fairy dust like sponsor of day just did.
stupid, stupid, stupid, STUPID. These are the kind of projects you fund during a major generational recession when unemployment is sky high. Congress had it’s head up it’s @#$%, so we didn’t.
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This is not the kind of stuff you do when at nearly full employment and inflation is on the rise.
I would be curious to see those that opposed DAPL and approve of this. DAPL already has the right of way purchased and money to run the pipe. The rail doesn’t have right away, no real budget to get it done, no financing, come to think of it, all they really have is an idea and a website.
Trump Train! Not that his word means anything, but Trump is on the record saying that he loves high speed rail. It would be a complete political comedy if Trump brings high speed rail to Texas while at the same time trashing the Texas economy by killing NAFTA and tossing all the migrant farm workers out of the state..
@Joel – I disagree. Now is a great time to utilize the resources coming off the Petrochemical boom in construction since there is no current ramp up in upstream work. Companies will slash mark-ups to maintain staff and chase this project. Right now you can lock a company and vendors into cheap or current prices before they start going back up with the price of oil.
@Gisgo
This is a different causeway than what you are thinking. I can’t imagine why you’d be on this stretch of road between Houston/NOLA.
Gisgo:
If you use the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway to get from Houston to NOLA you’re doing it all wrong.
Privately funded?
Old School- It’s going to be great when he kicks out the illegal aliens that are leeching off of us. :) We built our schools and hospitals for us, not them. Some people are so gullible they don’t even realize when they’re getting taken advantage of.
@Mr. Clean, that’s only good for a hyper local project and it only begs the question more, why now and not after the recession when taxpayers would have gotten far more value? Would like to see Trump and our congressional idiots explain this one to the public, we deserve it, no?
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The gov’t can borrow money cheaper and easier than anyone on this planet. Why would we involve private companies to raise financing and do construction at added cost but no added value? Yes, we don’t pay interest, but the revenue is the entire point. Also, if the gov’t can raise the money, wouldn’t it be best to let the free market to do it’s own work and direct private investors to better returns rather than free loading off the gov’t (crowding out and all)?
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I have yet to see a privatization scheme of public assets that hasn’t screwed over taxpayers. It’s only something you do when you can’t get financing, the exact opposite of our gov’ts current problems.
@ joel: By the time that this stuff filters through Congress and the various agencies, odds are that there may very well be a recession. It may be useful to put “shovel-ready” projects in the pipeline.
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That said, I wonder about the financing mechanisms that would be worked out for these items. It’s not entirely clear what is being proposed about them other than that the Trump administration is paying attention to them.
@ Secure: agreed on the gullible, but disagree on just who is being gullible at this moment.
The bridge into NOLA from the west is the Bonnet Carre Spillway, which is subject to frequent and unpredictable congestion due to its obsolete width and poor driver skill level. There are no plans in sight to fix it.
Baton Rouge is a major bottleneck also. They really need a highway loop around the city and an additional bridge over the Mississippi river.