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Rapid corridor rail (average speed of 80 mph) will not come to Texas until air and traffic congestion compels it.  As I said, these conditions are not likely to be extant for decades.It is 52 miles from Austin, or 70 miles from Round Rock, to Sequin, which would be the closest connection point.  It is 165 miles from Austin to Houston.  If a person has to drive 52 or more miles to catch a train, he is more likely to stay in the car and drive to Houston.  Accordingly, the Austin area is not a good target population for a rail corridor between San Antonio and Houston, although it is a good candidate for rail service from Austin to San Antonio.Of the other communities along the line, i.e. Sequin, Schulenburg, Eagle Lake, Columbus, etc., only Sequin has enough population to have a potential political voice in the legislature, assuming that it would have some influence on where the trains stopped.  As of now legislative action would be required to fund any rail corridor in Texas.  But in several decades, who knows?  Conditions may change to the point where investors would put up the money.  And then the trains could be operated by a real business.  That would be a shocker.  In many instances past practices are a major impediment to the implementation of new passenger rail corridors.  Too many rail advocates think in terms of current paradigms, i.e. downtown to downtown, low capacity cars, one or two trains a day, conductors collecting tickets on the train, dinning cars, etc.  Making rapid rail a viable option between Houston and San Antonio would require a significant upgrade of the track, grade crossings, and signal systems.  It would also require greatly improved stations, parking areas, and accesses.  These steps, by the way, were implemented for the Trinity Railway Express between Fort Worth and Dallas.Labor and overhead costs would have to be reduced.  The train would have to get by with a driver, a trainman, and a person(s) to serve passengers pre-pared food at their seats, assuming that food service is necessary for a three hour trip.  The airlines and Greyhound don't serve food between Houston and San Antonio.  Tickets would have to be sold on-line or at a station kiosk.  There would be no ticket agents.  Passengers would insert their ticket into an automatic gate to access the station platform, and they would follow a reverse procedure at their destination.  This is essentially how BART works.When Southwest Airlines begins service in a new location, it offers frequent departures.  This is one of the factors in its business model that has made it successful.  A train service between Houston and San Antonio, or any other rapid rail corridor in Texas, would have to do the same thing.  One or two departures a day would not work.
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