Letter to the editor

Dear Editor, As I draft my thoughts for this letter, I am also preparing my speaker notes for two meetings with Texans Against Hight Speed Rail. Although not alive and well, Texas Central Rail is still alive. That may be a surprise to many folks. When I visited Austin in March for our rally day at the Texas Capitol, about 60 people and myself who support TAHSR, (and I serve on the board of TAHSR), visited every Representative’s and Senator’s office. Over half of those offices were surprised to hear the bullet train was still alive. Not only is it alive, it is receiving mouth to mouth resuscitation from AMTRACK and some in the Federal Government.

Let me be perfectly clear, I, nor TAHSR are against all high-speed rail, but let me be clear, we are against this proposed bullet train project. It is not a good project.

One of the issues that really bothers me is that only a very small segment of society will benefit (use) this bullet train to their advantage. Most of us along the route would never even have an opportunity to ride the train unless we started our journey in Houston or Dallas. A few might one catch the train in Roans Prairie, but why? You could drive to Houston and most likely Dallas in the same amount of time it would take to drive to the station, get your ticket and catch your train. WE would all get to ride the “taxing train”. That would be the taxing ride to your bank account to pay for something that few would use and all would pay for in one way or another.

Some are losing their land. Others are losing their land value. Some will be losing the heritage and family land and history. Why should that bother us when some are going to rich off of this project? I will tell you why fellow citizens, because we are NOT the ones to benefit from this High-Speed Rail Project.

I also believe this project is very discriminatory to those in our society that are LMI, (Low to Middle Income). They are not going to have access to this train the way the route is proposed. It will not have stops in the local communities. It will only benefit the high rollers out of Houston and Dallas areas as they roll right over you and me.

The plan is to use Japanese technology that is 60+ plus years old. The U.S. trains that run across this country’s rails are not compatible with the Japanese track system, so it is Japanese trains only on this route. The kicker is that this project is already well over $40 billion to build and the first shovel of dirt is has yet to be turned.

Stop this waste. Stop this train. Stop this project now. Please call your Congressman, Senator, both State and Federal and register your opposition to this bad project.