Tivo_Kenevil wrote:HSR for regional commuting is the equivalent of using a sledge hammer to hang a picture on your wall.
HSR is for long distant communing with infrequent stops.
The TRE already exists. You can Upgrade rails/train, create a
Schedule that runs in game days that skips most stops. And you have a solution at the fraction of the cost.
Well, the HSR connecting FTW-ARL-DAL as a regional service is only its secondary purpose. Its primary purpose is to be a contiguous piece of connective tissue for longer distant trips that travel out of Dallas and Fort Worth someday, which is why it loops over to the cedars for its Dallas stop rather than simply stopping at Union Station--It's preparing the metroplex with a wall outlet for a Houston route to plug into.
Laying the HSR infrastructure along this route now will make things easier in the future for the day that we can connect to a broader network of HSR in Texas. It also helps to boost the Houston route's success since the whole thing wouldn't be dependent on everyone here having to haul it to the cedars to get on board.
Worst comes to worst and that doesn't pan out then we just went overkill on making a better FW-DAL connection while establishing a new rail corridor and connecting the Arlington entertainment district in the process. The HSR would become the de facto express route between the cities to TRE's slower, multi-stop option that would then focus entirely on servicing the neighborhoods in-between. They could maybe even add a stop or two since it will have less pressure as the only FW-DAL rail connection.