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Elevated transport rail imagined for city
Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Northwest Arkansas Edition ^ | August 31, 2008 | Brandy S. Chewning (Texarkana Gazette)

Posted on 08/31/2008 6:03:21 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks

TEXARKANA — The company selected to design Interstate 69 has revealed plans to also implement the world’s first air rail freight system in the corridor, possibly starting in Texarkana, Texas.

“You [Texarkana ] have railroads here, you already have an interstate, bringing I-69 is another interstate, you’ve got Oklahoma, you’ve got I-49,” said Gary Kuhn, senior project manager for Zachary American Infrastructure.

“This is what the logistics world likes to see — that opportunity to go from one mode to another very efficiently.” In a presentation to the Wilbur Smith Rotary Club, Kuhn said the freight shuttle is a new idea, under development by researchers at Texas A&M University.

“We started looking at this very intently relative to what we were doing on [Trans-Texas Corridor ] 35,” he said. “We stumbled upon this quite by accident as the technology we think we should use, and for the last two years we’ve been vetting it.

“ This was born in Texas, it should be done in Texas first,” Kuhn said.

The electric, automated shuttle would produce no emissions and would use steel wheels locked into a steel running surface, preventing derailment.

Raised 20 feet in the air, it uses electric impulses to move a pair of Amtrak-like “transporters” and can carry containers and trailers of various sizes.

Kuhn said 425-horsepower motors would be used to take the shuttle to full speed in seconds, then the engine drops to 40-horsepower.

“There’s more than enough power on the grid for this,” he said.

Property owners in the Trans-Texas 69 corridor will feel less impact because the elevated rail uses a smaller footprint. They can retain their land and get a return from easements allowing support structures.

Multimodal facilities are interchanges for the cargo, loading areas between trucks and rail. Bowie County, Texas, Judge James Carlow said that type of facility could easily be built on the Red River Army Depot property.

“This is a new concept, and it’s going to cost a lot of money,” Carlow said about the freight shuttle. “But when you can run it for a tenth of what the fuel cost will be, it pays back in a hurry.” No estimates were made on the cost of construction, but it would be built with private funds.

“There’s a lot of private money chasing these ideas because they see it’s the future,” Carlow said.

An electric rail can move 100, 000 pounds of cargo for 8 cents per mile. The same transport on a truck, with diesel $ 5 per gallon, would be 85 cents per mile.

“At the design speed, which is 62 miles an hour, we will be able to run 10, 000 loads per day each direction,” Kuhn said.

With the bulk of American freight moved by trucks, Kuhn provided statistics that suggested an electric rail could benefit the industry rather than cut jobs. He referred to a projection of truck traffic increases by the American Society of Civil Engineering. “By 2020, there’s going to be an equivalent of 10 million, 40-foot containers that no port in the United States can handle,” he said. “There’s going to be a new market that no one can deal with.” Kuhn said the freight shuttle combines the benefits of trucks and trains and is not intended to replace either but will fill in the gap of short hauls that trains don’t want. “Their market is 650 or more miles,” Kuhn said. “We’re on the truck side of things.” Use of the rail would be purchased by trucking companies who may have the option of owning their own transporters.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; US: Arkansas; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: airrail; ar; arkansas; asce; austin; bowiecounty; easements; easttexas; emails; freightshuttle; garykuhn; hearings; i69; i69ttc; ih69; infrastructure; interstate69; judgejamescarlow; keepontrucking; landowners; meetings; multimodal; p3; ppp; privatefunding; privateinvestment; privatesector; privatization; publichearings; publicmeetings; redriverarmydepot; shuttles; texarkana; texas; traffic; transportation; transporters; transtexascorridor; trucks; trucktraffic; ttc; ttc35; ttc69; tx; txdot; zachry
TXDOT taking comments
1 posted on 08/31/2008 6:03:21 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
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To: TxDOT; 1066AD; 185JHP; Abcdefg; Adrastus; Alamo-Girl; antivenom; AprilfromTexas; B4Ranch; B-Chan; ..

Trans-Texas Corridor PING!


2 posted on 08/31/2008 6:12:41 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Drill Here! Drill Now! Pay Less! Sign the petition at http://www.americansolutions.com/)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Q: What about us braindead slobs?

A: You'll be given cushy jobs!

3 posted on 08/31/2008 6:17:54 PM PDT by Snickering Hound
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To: All

I am sure all the Liberal Free Trade Globalists are ecstatic over this news.

All this money being re-distributed for this stuff would be better used investing in America and creating jobs in America


4 posted on 08/31/2008 6:21:18 PM PDT by UCFRoadWarrior (It's still COMMUNIST China)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

5 posted on 08/31/2008 6:27:22 PM PDT by Westlander (Unleash the Neutron Bomb)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

As long as it’s done with PRIVATE money, I welcome its success (or failure).

But if it’s “8 cents per mile” along with capital costs that work out to $8 per mile for the next hundred years (spread across the taxpayers of the state), oh and then another equivalent amount of federal money stolen from me and others who’ll never see it but nonetheless foot the bill, not interested.

And if you think I’m exaggerating, bear in mind that for conventional public transportation, those $2 train rides cost $7-8 in variable costs alone ($8-10 for bus rides), and the fixed costs are left out completely! Even though they make up 50% or more of the total costs, they’re assumed to be ZERO because it’s federal money (so that’s 15-20 bucks of taxpayer expenditure for every 2 bucks in revenue).


6 posted on 08/31/2008 6:33:33 PM PDT by BobbyT
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

An electric rail can move 100, 000 pounds of cargo for 8 cents per mile. The same transport on a truck, with diesel $ 5 per gallon, would be 85 cents per mile. ,?p>

If that's all it costs to transport 100,000 lbs, then why is my electric bill so high?????????

7 posted on 08/31/2008 6:57:21 PM PDT by Sarajevo (You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Supersonic land transport. That would be a kicker.
8 posted on 08/31/2008 6:59:20 PM PDT by Candor7 (Fascism? All it takes is for good men to say nothing, (http://www.theobamafile.com/))
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Elevated freight is not a new idea at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Line_(New_York_City)

< /smirk >

9 posted on 08/31/2008 7:34:05 PM PDT by Salman
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To: UCFRoadWarrior
I am sure all the Liberal Free Trade Globalists are ecstatic over this news. All this money being re-distributed for this stuff would be better used investing in America and creating jobs in America

I am encouraged by it. We are operating at almost full capacity in our rail and ports, so this might speed the throughput of containers and make intermodal transport cheaper. Trade goes two ways, and right now our exports are what is holding the economy up.

10 posted on 08/31/2008 7:47:35 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The electric, automated shuttle would produce no emissions

It is idiot envirowhacko thinking like this that burns my butt. Where do they think the electricity come from? Here's a hint: there hasn't been a nuclear power plant built in the US for over 30 years.

11 posted on 08/31/2008 8:32:14 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (G-d is not a Republican. But Satan is definitely a Democrat.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants
Where do they think the electricity come from?

I believe it comes mostly from stuff that Harry Reid thinks makes us sick.

12 posted on 08/31/2008 9:08:00 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Drill Here! Drill Now! Pay Less! Sign the petition at http://www.americansolutions.com/)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
In a presentation to the Wilbur Smith Rotary Club, Kuhn said the freight shuttle is a new idea, under development by researchers at Texas A&M University.

When I learned that the Texas Highway Institute was at TX A&M, suddenly the reason for all those screwy freeway interchanges was clear - Aggies designed them! ;)

Once again Gov. Perry and his TTC gang think of creative ways to waste our tax dollars in even more complicated ways.

13 posted on 09/01/2008 1:05:54 AM PDT by anymouse
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

BTTT


14 posted on 09/01/2008 2:55:43 AM PDT by E.G.C. (To read a freeper's FR postings, click on his or her screen name and then "In Forum".)
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To: Westlander

>>>Why does this map not follow existing business routes? Why is it so concerned with taking goods from Mexico to/through the U.S. to Canada?

I’d surely support electric elevated rail if it were a private U.S. consortium.

Anything that the Trans-Texas Corridor touches is highly suspect and has already lost credibility because it carries political ends more than commercial products.


15 posted on 09/01/2008 9:22:35 AM PDT by Hop A Long Cassidy
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To: anymouse
I cringe every time I think that those same Aggies are doing research in bio-weapons and nuclear energy. Danger.......ous!!!
16 posted on 09/01/2008 12:34:48 PM PDT by wolfcreek (I see miles and miles of Texas....let's keep it that way.)
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