Houston19514

Avianca does not fly to IAH. They serve IAH with code shares with TACA. But it appears I also left of TACA. Good catch on Spirit. Right about Qantas and Sun Country. Edited: (Hat-tip to asubrt): Another update: With the announcement of ANA service, Spirit service, and the all-but-announced EVA service, IAH will now have 19 foreign flag carriers (including the charter-only SonAir); 21 carriers with international service. In comparison, with the soon-to-be-added VivaAerobus and Spirit, DFW will have 13 foreign flag carriers (three of which are seasonal only); 16 carriers with international service. IAH: 1. Aeromexico 2. Air Canada 3. Air China 4. Air France 5. ANA 6. British Airways 7. Emirates 8. EVA Air 9. Interjet 10. KLM 11. Korean Air 12. Lufthansa 13. Qatar Airways 14. Scandinavian Airlines 15. Singapore Airlines 16. SonAir * 17. TACA 17. Turkish Airlines 19. VivaAerobus 20. Spirit 21. United * SonAir is charter only DFW: 1. Aeromexico 2. Air Canada 3. Avianca 4. British Airways 5. Cayman Airways (seasonal only and even 11. Qatar 12. Westjet (seasonal only) 13. VivaAerobus (starting 2015) 14. American 15. Spirit 16. Sun Country (4 x per week)

Dude, the "goal" has changed because it's an entirely different plan being made by entirely different people. If you want HSR rail service to every college town in Texas be prepared for massive tax increases. It seems you have a hard-on for service to BCS and Waco; and apparently connectivity beyond that be damned. What about service to Huntsville and Conroe and Corsicana? You see, every system is going to, at some point, be subject to the unfair claim that "connectivity beyond that be damned."

Duplicate post. Sorry.

You don't know that it would be "nowhere near" adding 50% to the total travel time. In fact, by your own estimation of an additional 12 minutes plus a minimum of 10 minutes stopped at each intervening station, we're already at 32 minutes added to a 90 minute trip. It seems entirely plausible that two deceleration/acceleration phases added to each trip (one for B/CS and one for Waco easily add another 13 minutes to the trip, getting us to 50% added to the total travel time. I can see routing the trains in a way that it is feasible to add intervening stations at a later date, but I have no idea what the costs of that additional routing might be. No doubt many millions and in fact we know they have looked at the idea. Again, they have more information than you or I and have actually built HSR systems before. Yeah, BCS and Waco MSAs together add a half million. So two additional stops to serve an increment of 3.6%. With respect, the people with a whole lot more experience than you are I have looked at it and determined it is not worth it.

Not true at all. They have no doubt kept in mind exactly what is necessary to justify an intervening station. They probably know more about it than you do.

Yes, and I believe it's the same people involved in planning and funding the Houston-Dallas line, so I would imagine they'll keep that in mind. Question: Did they route the trains out of the way in order to serve population centers as small as 1/4 million, or do they serve population centers on the route between, e.g., Tokyo and Osaka?

There's a difference between pie-in-the-sky conceptual maps and proposals, especially from government agencies spending other peoples' money, on the one hand, and real-world proposals from people spending their own money, on the other. Further, FWIW, there is a lot more to it than just dividing the average travel time by the number of additional track miles. First, you apparently failed to include any time spent at your proposed intervening stations. So add another 10 minutes, minimum. The larger issue is the slow-down and speed-up time required to make those intervening times. Believe it or not, the trains will not be able to stop on a dime when traveling at 200 MPH, nor will they be able to accelerate back to 200 miles instantaneously when leaving each stop. And let's face it, the population numbers you posted for those intervening stops are pretty inconsequential compared to the 7 MIllion + that will be at each end of the line.

Another update: With the announcement of ANA service and the all-but-announced EVA service, IAH will now have 18 foreign flag carriers (including the charter-only SonAir); 19 carriers with international service. In comparison, with the soon-to-be-added VivaAerobus, DFW will have 13 foreign flag carriers (three of which are seasonal only); 14 carriers with international service. IAH: 1. Aeromexico 2. Air Canada 3. Air China 4. Air France 5. ANA 6. British Airways 7. Emirates 8. EVA Air 9. Interjet 10. KLM 11. Korean Air 12. Lufthansa 13. Qatar Airways 14. Scandinavian Airlines 15. Singapore Airlines 16. SonAir * 17. Turkish Airlines 18. VivaAerobus 19. United * SonAir is charter only DFW: 1. Aeromexico 2. Air Canada 3. Avianca 4. British Airways 5. Cayman Airways (seasonal only and even then only once-weekly) 6. Emirates 7. Etihad 8. KLM (sesaonal only) 9. Korean 10. Lufthansa 11. Qatar 12. Westjet (seasonal only) 13. VivaAerobus (starting 2015) 14. American

Seems like a good time for an update:

Exactly.

I think Friday ended in New Zealand about 6 hours before your post. It seems pretty clear the "Friday announcement" was the Argentina service. Full stop.

I don't think there's any reason at all to think that it looks like it will be Chicago. The article that included that speculation or "tip" was clearly mistaken.

I think it's just west of the Turning Basin

Yes

Where do you get the idea there will be a blank wall facing Main Street?

Here's the scoop, received directly from Houston First Corporation in a newsletter email this morning: 110-year-old William L. Foley House off the premises at the corner of Avenida de las Americas and Capitol Street and to a parking lot across the street. The two-story blue residence will be moved the week of December 8-12 but the exact date is still be determined. Built in 1904, this is the former residence of the founder of Foley Dry Goods Company, the precursor of the now defunct Foley Department Store chain. The home is one of the final residences of the Quality Hill neighborhood in downtown. (The other is the Arthur B. Cohen House, which will be incorporated into the Nau Center complex.) Houston First is donating the Foley House to Incarnate Word Academy and Annunciation Church. The stately home will eventually be restored and relocated behind the church, which is the oldest in Houston dating back to 1871.

It would be cool if you could recreate that front.

Before June, 2015, 2 major Asian airlines will announce service to Bush Intercontinental, and a number of Latin American airlines will be adding service to Houston, one of which is a Columbian airline. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QNr0iwGBDI @ approx. 14:30

Not true. Texas Central Railway is at the exact same point in the planning process for the Houston and Dallas sides.

I wish the Chronicle would give this half the coverage it gets from the DMN.

Not sure that circle means what you are hoping/assuming it means.

Agreed. I thought it was looking like a good part of the lot had already been scraped down to dirt.

I did look at the DMN article and the included map. It's a DART map, showing what DART hopes to happen. I can find no evidence anywhere that Texas Central has named a site adjacent to Union Station as one of their possibilities. Here is the map of Dallas station alternatives put out by Texas Central:

HEB has gone to the hybrid concept here in Houston. This and a bunch of their other newer stores (but not all) are HEB Markets and they include a bunch of the features found in Central Markets. Montrose Market Buffalo Market Cypress Market Pearland Market etc., etc.

(1) No it is not just as bad as it was 10 years ago, and (2) Just imagine how bad traffic would now be on the Katy Freeway,not to mention Northwest Freeway, Westpark Tollway, Southwest Freeway, Westheimer Rd, Memorial, etc etc. had the Katy Freeway not been expanded.