Rail Transportation

Toxic Town: Linda Faust Loses to BNSF Railway

Houston's Light Rail Not Good Enough For Baltimore

High-Speed Rail Coming To Texas, Once Again

Last week, the Houston Business Journal reported that high speed rail  is coming to Houston. At a speech at New York's Penn Station, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced that her office will soon begin "accepting expressions of interest to finance, design, build, op ... More >>

The East End Doesn't Like Metro's Light-Rail Overpass (Updated)

The Houston East End Chamber of Commerce, the Eastwood Civic Association, and some East End residents are up in arms over Metro's plans for a light rail overpass on Harrisburg Boulevard. So what's their problem, you say? Why would anyone have anything critical to say of Metro? Yeah, Hair Balls found ... More >>

Balaclavas, Future Blondes

The Houston East End Chamber of Commerce, the Eastwood Civic Association, and some East End residents are up in arms over Metro's plans for a light rail overpass on Harrisburg Boulevard. So what's their problem, you say? Why would anyone have anything critical to say of Metro? Yeah, Hair Balls found ... More >>

Toxic Town: Birth Defects

Critics say contamination from the tie plant caused severe problems for these babies

Toxic Town: Cancer and Birth Defects in Somerville

In Somerville, chances are far better than normal that you will die of cancer or give birth to a deformed baby

Nights on Blue Bayou: City Soundscapes

Buffalo Bayou Partnership, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, and the Aurora Picture Show present “SONA: Wind, Rain, and Trains”

Ultra Man

Champa is the champ of our DJ competition at South Beach

Training Day

Light rail's first day brings one high after another

Best Hype

Super Bowl 2004

Best Museum

Hyde Park Miniature Museum

Perilous Paths

A severed foot revives the fight over safe train crossings for schoolkids

Going off the Rails

A proposed line into the Bayport Industrial District has residents from Clear Lake to the East End vowing to stop the "toxic train" in its tracks

Important "Toxic Town" Trial Starts Up Today

Photo by Daniel KramerThe polluters who turned Somerville into the Toxic Town described in an award-winning Houston Press story may have had a good result in the first lawsuit they faced, but a second one -- beginning a week from today in the town of Caldwell in Burleson County -- may be different. ... More >>

Railroad Wins Important "Toxic Town" Suit

Photo by Daniel KramerDennis DavisIn 2007, our Todd Spivak did a feature on  the "Toxic Town" of Somerville, 90 miles southnorthwest of Houston and home to a Burlington Northern Sante Fe Railway plant.Residents there have much higher cancer rates than normal, a fact some traced to the arsenic, ... More >>

Commuter Rail From Galveston And Hempstead By 2012!! Well, Maybe

​The Citizens Transportation Coalition is currently giddy with dreams of 90 MPH commuter trains speeding from Galveston and down 290 into the city...possibly by 2012, which sounds like the far future but is only three years away. There hasn't been much public movement on commuter rail since the HG ... More >>

Alan Jackson

​The Citizens Transportation Coalition is currently giddy with dreams of 90 MPH commuter trains speeding from Galveston and down 290 into the city...possibly by 2012, which sounds like the far future but is only three years away. There hasn't been much public movement on commuter rail since the HG ... More >>

Lead Plaintiff In "Toxic Town" Lawsuit Dies

Photo by Daniel Kramer​A little over two years ago, the Houston Press published an award-winning story looking into Somerville, a small town 90 miles northwest of here that contained a plant that made railroad ties."Toxic Town" described the high rate of cancer in the town and focused on the lead ... More >>

Bullet Train Between Dallas And Houston: It's Coming (Maybe)

How about a Lone Star flag on the front of that thing?​Houston business leaders got briefed yesterday by a Japanese company looking to build a bullet train between Dallas and Houston, with mostly private funds.It's part of a U.S. offense by the Central Japan Railway, which, according to media repo ... More >>

Amtrak's Terrible Sunset Limited May Become A Daily

Improvements on the way?​Amtrak has a new plan out on how to improve service on the Sunset Limited, the long-distance passenger train that comes through Houston on its way between Los Angeles and New Orleans. Any plan would likely improve service, since the Limited is notorious for long, long ... More >>

January Weekends: Don't Expect Much Light Rail

Construction for the ages​How long does it take to build a freaking pedestrian bridge across Fannin? Long enough that -- on the heels of Metro having to suspend light rail service on some December weekends to accommodate construction -- they'll be doing the same for most of January, the agenc ... More >>

Some Good Metro News: Light Rail Will Be Working This Weekend!

Metro's light rail will actually be working this weekend​Hey, here's some good news for a change from Metro: the light rail system will be working this weekend! Hey, you take your good news any way you can these days. All of you saying, "Shouldn't a light rail system be designed to work on a ... More >>

Union Pacific Is Very Sorry For Blocking Major Galleria-Area Roads For 7 Hours Today

A crew had to stop where they were​Galleria area drivers had a nasty morning today because a Union Pacific train was dropped dead in its tracks blocking Richmond and West Alabama for almost seven hours. Union Pacific spokesperson Raquel Espinoza tells Hair Balls the train's crew had reached t ... More >>

Free METRORAIL Rides to and from Reliant Park for Texans Home Games

​Traffic around any sports stadium can be a serious pain on game day, so Reliant has teamed up with METRO to provide free light rail rides to and from Reliant Park for every Texans home game in the regular season. Free rides begin at 5:30 a.m. on game day and run until midnight. To promote th ... More >>