Texas Star Triangle
McAllen, TX
Stop on the proposed 17,000-mile maglev network. Next stop: Brownsville, TX (49.9 mi).
About McAllen
McAllen is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is located at the southern tip of the state in the Rio Grande Valley, on the Mexican border.
Source: Wikipedia summary (full article). Population and facts as published there.
Cost breakdown (proposal-scale estimates — see math)
⚠️ All figures below are parametric estimates scaled from the proposal's own budget ($8.5T ÷ 17,000 mi ≈ $500M per mile), not engineering quotes. Methodology is shown so you can check the math.
| Item | Basis | Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal construction | Mid-size terminal — 200K–1M catchment ($1–2B range) | $1.5B |
| Land acquisition | Regional factor 1.2× on $200M base | $240M |
| Track: McAllen → Brownsville | 49.9 mi × $500M/mi | $24.9B |
| Annual operations (share) | Staffing, power, maintenance | $30M/yr |
| Stop total (excl. annual ops) | $26.7B |
Best terminal location (proposed)
the downtown McAllen transit center district. Valley Metro's hub is already downtown, and the dense retail and medical district around La Plaza Mall sits minutes away. The terminal captures the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission metro plus binational demand from Reynosa across the river.
Before / after
Aerial mock-up (illustrative, not an engineering rendering). Left: the proposed site today. Right: with the maglev terminal.
🛤️ Infill stops toward Brownsville: the proposal envisions more stops than cities — smaller stations between majors. Plausible infills on this leg:
← All 287 stops
- Weslaco — Mid-Valley city on the corridor south.
- Harlingen — the Valley's medical and retail hub.
- San Benito — Cameron County city at the Brownsville approach.