this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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Texas could get a 205-mph bullet train zipping between Houston and Dallas::The proposed electric railway line could travel 240 miles in under 90 minutes for over 6 million passengers per year.

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[–] ilmagico@lemmy.world 114 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I doubt it ... first, it's electric, and second, you cannot install a lift kit on it.

[–] Moonguide@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago

But you could add some truck nuts behind every train car and some bull horns on the front.

[–] Steeve@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago

It's electric, but a diesel engine strictly for "rolling coal" at cyclists will also be installed.

[–] BobKerman3999@feddit.it 50 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] SuckMyWang@lemmy.world 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Elon will say he can build a hyper loop and it will be way better. Then he’ll do nothing and sell as many teslas to his still mostly untapped conservative base until they’ve had enough and then he’ll switch back to selling cars to liberals

[–] Toribor@corndog.social 2 points 1 year ago

Hyperloop? Pfffffttt. My imaginary train is even faster!

[–] Pocketyeti@lemmy.world 45 points 1 year ago

Been talking about this for years, wake me up when they actually start doing something.

[–] Proweruser@feddit.de 44 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] HerbalGamer@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I dunno, they do like bullets

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

On the other hand, one of the reasons they like bullets is because they can be used to kill minorities. A bullet train designed in a certain way can kill both a lot of minorities and public interest in mass transportation.

[–] Matthew@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago

That's how you sell it to them

[–] blueeggsandyam@lemmy.world 29 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I live in Texas and this is unlikely to happen. It was more likely to happen a few years back. I doubt they will build a eletric train between two liberal cities. The only thing that would make it less likely is if you said it was a gay eletric train. Even if they did, Texas cities are sprawled out and require a car. It would only work if you could load your car on the train. It would be useful for students going back and forth to their universities. However, university students are almost as despised as poor people or minorities to most of the voters in Texas.

[–] rigatti@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What if they promised to put guns on the front of the train? Would that help?

[–] _stranger_@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I love the way you think.

Put gunner's nests on the train, B-52 style.

Advertise the shit out of that job.

We'll have republicans building trains between neighborhoods by the end of the year.

[–] supercriticalcheese@feddit.it 2 points 1 year ago

Yes exactly that. You can't start a high speed train and expect for it to work.

Each train can handle the same amount of passengers as a couple large planes if not more. When they arrive at the destination something is needed for them to reach their destination..

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 29 points 1 year ago (1 children)

“Could” being the operative word. People have been trying to build this since the 1990s.

[–] ictinus@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

You've gotta laugh... It is the same everywhere I think: Is a high-speed rail possible in Australia

[–] w2qw@aussie.zone 1 points 1 year ago

Sydney to Melbourne looks ridiculous in comparison with like three times the distance.

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[–] hactar42@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The biggest obstacle, besides politics and oil/gas money, is neither of these cities are non-car friendly. Both cities are so sprawling you end up spending significantly more time using public transportation than driving. That's even if public transportation goes to the part of the city you need.

[–] APassenger@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

They'll each need an intermodal stop. That would be so much easier on passengers than the traditional airport stop and, given projected volume, would be essential.

DART is pretty alright if you're near a stop.

[–] Asimo@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago
[–] 4am@lemm.ee 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

“But how we gonna roll coal in that thing?!”

[–] qaz@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

At least it's called a bullet train

[–] weedazz@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Not sure if it's going to happen in Texas, but the Bright line high speed rail between Miami and Orlando is going to be finished by the end of the month hopefully!

[–] EpicFailGuy@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

That shit has been a battle for the best part of two decades .... Can't believe it finally happened

[–] hobovision@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

For what it's worth, Brightline Florida isn't quite considered high speed by most metrics. It will have a short 125 mph section, which is kinda the minimum design speed to be considered high speed. The state of rail in the US is so bad though that Brightline Florida might actually have a higher average speed than the Acela...

Brightline West between southern CA and Las Vegas will be designed as a deticated high speed line though.

[–] socialmedia@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)
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[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

So that's where they export the outdated European first generation trains from the 80s to.

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 year ago

I tried to find the existing Houston rail station on foot one time. It took an hour. There were few helpful signs and sidewalks only some of the time.

[–] besbin@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 1 year ago

I remember people talking about a HSR system linking the three biggest cities in Texas way back in 2010s. They couldn't even raise enough support to finish the research for the placement of the train stops. Not sure this will even get pass that.

[–] Asimo@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago
[–] Nioxic@lemmy.world -4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I feel so sorry for anyone whos gonna live near that thing

At full speed those trains sound like a formula 1 track during a race. (And thats before they went from V8s to V6s

[–] schnokobaer@feddit.de 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Rubbish. With around 75-80 dB at 25 meters, high speed trains at 300 kph are about as loud as 6 lane highways, and unlike the highway that is for less than 6 seconds to a stationary observer. A V8 formula one car was ear damagingly loud at more than 130 dB.

https://www.static.tu.berlin/fileadmin/www/10002264/ews/2023-sose/2023-05-22_RTRI_Uda_Seminar.pdf

https://www.hitachi.com/rev/archive/2021/r2021_06/06a02/index.html

edit: Here's a German ICE train going 300 kph through a station if anyone wants to get a rough idea of how a modern high speed train sounds relatively up close.