The editorial that I chose to critique was, “Bullet train sorely needed in Texas,” printed in the Houston Chronicle September 29th 2014. It is an editorial written about the supposed necessity of a high speed train linking the cities of DFW and Houston.
The target audience the author is trying to reach is a rather vast one. A project of this magnitude would interest many people, especially those that travel between those cities frequently. I believe the author is mainly trying to reach out to those sympathetic to the cause of building this high speed rail, whether it be the frequent commuters or even those that might have some sway in the decision making process. The authors credibility is not accessible as the name is not divulged.
I did not agree with the opinion of the author. It was evident to me that the author was definitely for the building of this high speed train system without even addressing any of the other factors, such as necessity. One thing he does say is that there is frequently traffic between the cities. This is just not true. There may be traffic leaving the cities, but I-45 is a smooth running highway between these cities the majority of the time. He also did not address the fact that there would be considerable traffic inside the cities just to get to the train station. Yes, a 90 minute or less train ride would be lovely, but then what? Neither Dallas nor Houston are cities conducive to being car-less. Public transportation is certainly no where near the level as it is in places like New York City. Regardless of the possibility of being able to secure a form of transportation once in one of these cities, it negates to take into account the fact that there is already a rapid method from one city to the other. Hobby airport to Love field for for $152. High speed rail sorely needed? Not so much.
Another considerable factor that the author did not take into account is the environmental factor, which, depending on who you talk to, is the most important benefit to this form of mass transportation. He did not address the potential benefit to the environment if this form of transportation was to catch on and become the norm for travel between these cities. What he did bring up was about the apparent race with California to get these systems up and running. Whichever state gets their working first will the be the first in the nation to have such a system.
The author mentioned that the project would be privately funded. While that means that the state and even federal government will not have to put this type of project into their budgets, there will still be a great need to governmental involvement. The author mentions that there have been a plethora of meeting with TxDOT in various cities in Texas to inform the curios and otherwise involved.
The article was a brief and vaguely informative editorial about the proposed high speed rail system linking DFW to Houston. The author gave few details of the project, but was sure to make it evident that Texans were now in a race with Californians.
The target audience the author is trying to reach is a rather vast one. A project of this magnitude would interest many people, especially those that travel between those cities frequently. I believe the author is mainly trying to reach out to those sympathetic to the cause of building this high speed rail, whether it be the frequent commuters or even those that might have some sway in the decision making process. The authors credibility is not accessible as the name is not divulged.
I did not agree with the opinion of the author. It was evident to me that the author was definitely for the building of this high speed train system without even addressing any of the other factors, such as necessity. One thing he does say is that there is frequently traffic between the cities. This is just not true. There may be traffic leaving the cities, but I-45 is a smooth running highway between these cities the majority of the time. He also did not address the fact that there would be considerable traffic inside the cities just to get to the train station. Yes, a 90 minute or less train ride would be lovely, but then what? Neither Dallas nor Houston are cities conducive to being car-less. Public transportation is certainly no where near the level as it is in places like New York City. Regardless of the possibility of being able to secure a form of transportation once in one of these cities, it negates to take into account the fact that there is already a rapid method from one city to the other. Hobby airport to Love field for for $152. High speed rail sorely needed? Not so much.
Another considerable factor that the author did not take into account is the environmental factor, which, depending on who you talk to, is the most important benefit to this form of mass transportation. He did not address the potential benefit to the environment if this form of transportation was to catch on and become the norm for travel between these cities. What he did bring up was about the apparent race with California to get these systems up and running. Whichever state gets their working first will the be the first in the nation to have such a system.
The author mentioned that the project would be privately funded. While that means that the state and even federal government will not have to put this type of project into their budgets, there will still be a great need to governmental involvement. The author mentions that there have been a plethora of meeting with TxDOT in various cities in Texas to inform the curios and otherwise involved.
The article was a brief and vaguely informative editorial about the proposed high speed rail system linking DFW to Houston. The author gave few details of the project, but was sure to make it evident that Texans were now in a race with Californians.
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