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[quote user="oltmannd"][quote user="HarveyK400"][quote user="oltmannd"] <p>I think there are quite a few where the poplulation could support 3-5 RT per day. Just play "connect the dots" with metro areas >1M in population that are 150 miles or less apart and you'd have a pretty good network of corridors (is that contradiction in terms?)</p><p>Example: Buffalo, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Nashville, Louisville.</p><p>How you connect the dots and which dots get connected first would depend on the work required. If an incremental upgrade of an existing route is available, then that would likely happen first. If a geography and other factors mean a new route, then that would likely happen later.</p><p>[/quote]</p><p>Connecting dots that are greater than 1 million in population does not address the relative success and opportunities for intercity passenger services to places like Grand Rapids, MI and Carbondale, IL. </p><p>[/quote]</p><p>Samantha was suggesting there weren't corridors worth 3-5 RT per day. That Carbondale and GR work so well suggests that connecting the 1M+ cities with more frequent and faster service would be even more sucessful.</p><p>[/quote]</p><p>Samantha said, "Outside of the present corridors, with a few exceptions, I don't think there are many high density corridors that could support three to five passenger trains a day. That, of course, is likely to change as the population of the United States increases."</p><p>The population at the corridor end points, as well as population along the corridor, is only one indicator of the potential market for passenger train service. </p><p>A significant determinant is corridor congestion and its impact on alternative modes of transport. The potential corridors in Texas are not congested to the point where people are looking seriously at rail as an alternative. At least not now! People in Texas, for the most part, are happy flying or driving between the Lone Star state's major cities.</p><p>Population patterns are another important factor. Although some people are moving to town, most of them live in the suburbs. The location of the suburbs is a significant determinate in gauging the utility of passenger rail in the potential Texas corridors. </p><p>The affluent suburbs in the Dallas Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA), as well as the better off neighborhoods, are north of downtown. In Houston the pattern is the same. A passenger rail corridor connecting the two cities would pass through the affluent Houston and suburban areas that are most likely to be a market for passenger rail. But it would not serve the more affluent Dallas areas. </p><p>The potential market, therefore, is not the Dallas SMSA or the Houston SMSA, but only the downtown communities, which are relatively sparse, as well as the southern portion of the Dallas SMSA and the northern portion of the Houston SMSA. The residents of the Dallas SMSA most likely to be traveling on a commercial carrier to Houston would find it more convenient to go to Love Field and hop on Southwest, whereas the pattern would be reversed for Houston. The residents south of downtown Houston would find it more convenient to go to Hobby Field to catch a flight to Dallas. </p><p>Having lived in New York (I'll be there at the end of this month), I agree that expanding the highways and airways is a challenge. But in Texas, as well as many other areas of the country, there is plenty of room to expand both. In fact, a new toll road just opened east of Austin that carries motorists around the city. And several new toll roads have opened or will open soon in the Dallas area. This is why I think it will be a long time before there will be a market for three to five passenger trains movements a day between any of Texas' large cities, except for commuter operations.</p>
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