Bullet train to Dallas?

Japanese company working on it

David Crossley, Sep 20, 10.

Update. September 24, 10: Houston-Dallas HSR could be in service by 2020

A possible Houston to Dallas high-speed rail line was the topic of a Monday morning breakfast meeting featuring Yoshiyuki Kasai, the chairman of Central Japan Railway, Japan’s largest rail company and maker of the famed Japanese “bullet trains.” Kasai was hosted by the Greater Houston Partnership (GHP).

The company is developing plans to build a Houston/Dallas high speed rail (largely privately financed) as the first phase of a Texas system, according to the GHP invitation. Kasai used the meeting to brief the region’s business leaders on the details and opportunities that Houston-Dallas high-speed rail service would bring to the Houston region.

Central Japan Railway manufactures the Shinkansen “bullet trains” common in Japan, and also has recently begun marketing a new maglev train. The Shinkansen Series N700 is billed by Japan Railways as the world’s fastest bullet train in service (France’s faster TGV train has been used only to break speed records), with a top speed of 186 mph. The Japanese maglev train has been tested at 361 mph.

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