Editorial: Skip the Hyperloop—Texas Should Stick to the Basics

The North Central Texas COG's Regional Transportation Council is considering two major proposals for high-speed travel from Dallas to Forth: a bullet train or a hyperloop.

In the plan from Texas Central Railway, a proposed high-speed rail route from Houston to Dallas would be extended to include Fort Worth, offering connections to Amtrak. The hyperloop proposal comes from Virgin Hyperloop One, which promises to reduce the 30-mile trip between Dallas and Fort Worth to six minutes.

Given those choices, the editorial team of the Dallas Morning News urges caution in the face of hype. Even high-speed rail may not be economically viable for the corridor, the writers argue, let alone an advanced technology whose operations are currently confined to a single testing facility.

Noting that the environmental impact statement alone will take at least two years and cost $5 million, they add, "That's a lot of money to study technology that could change in the meantime and for a region that is growing so quickly that its needs will likely change even before the study is finished."

For more information on the dueling proposals, see coverage from the Star-Telegram.