Texas High Speed Rail Ridership Forecasting

Goolsby, Merrell E.; Walker, E. L.; ,

Texas High Speed Rail Ridership Forecasting

by Merrell E. Goolsby, Wilbur Smith Associates, Houston, United States,
E. L. Walker, Jr., Wilbur Smith Associates, Houston, United States,

Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: High Speed Ground Transportation Systems I: Planning and Engineering

Abstract:

On May 28, 1991, the Texas High Speed Rail Authority made a decision to implement a High Speed Rail (HSR) system in the `Texas Triangle,' which would connect five of Texas' largest cities (Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Austin). The historic decision was made by the Authority following a lengthy period in which franchise proposals were received by the Authority and public hearings conducted. The Authority found HSR to be in the `public convenience and necessity' and authorized award of a 50-year franchise to Texas High Speed Rail Corporation, a consortium managed by Morrison-Knudsen Corporation, to finance, build, and operate the HSR system. Wilbur Smith Associates developed travel forecast models and ridership forecasts for the proposed HSR system, which are reported in this paper. HSR model development and travel forecasts were actually accomplished over a three-year period which included an earlier HSR study conducted for the State of Texas (Texas Triangle, 1989), as well as the later analyses (1990-1991) for the Texas TGV franchise application to the Texas High Speed Rail Authority (Testimony, 1991).

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