Despite all previous indications, Amtrak has just agreed to consider working with Texas Central, a move that has simultaneously reminded the world that Texas Central still exists and its controversial, long-delayed Houston-to-Dallas high-speed rail project could still become a reality.
You’d be forgiven for assuming the project was dead in the water, of course. After working for more than a decade to bring this project to fruition, players had peeled off, land acquisitions along the route had slowed and plans to start work on constructing the line and turning the defunct Northwest Mall into a gleaming modern train station had been delayed indefinitely.
Although Texas Central scored a win before the Texas Supreme Court over its right to use eminent domain to build its long-planned Houston-to-Dallas bullet train line in June 2022 — the company CEO Carlos Aguilar to abruptly announce his resignation via LinkedIn the following day. When it came out that the entire board had been quietly disbanded earlier that month, it looked like the project was done.
The company issued a statement at the time insisting that Texas Central was still “open for business under its new management … and is moving forward with the development of this high-speed train” it would be hard to fault anyone who discounted this claim as a bit of sound and fury.
Since then, Texas Central has been quiet—until now.
On Wednesday, Texas Central and Amtrak, the national passenger rail company of the United States, issued a joint press release announcing the two entities are exploring a partnership to further study constructing a 240-mile-long rail line to tote passengers between Houston and Dallas in 90 minutes. While the possible deal itself isn’t a complete shock—in 2016 Amtrak officials agreed to provide through-ticketing for Texas Central using Amtrak’s reservation system—it still makes the odds quite a bit higher that this thing could become a reality.
But what does this big announcement actually mean? Well, for starters it simply means that Amtrak and Texas Central officials are both really interested in working together to make this thing happen.
So far, that has translated to Texas Central and Amtrak submitting applications to several federal programs in connection with further study and design work for the potential Dallas to Houston segment, including the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure Safety and Improvements grant program, the Corridor Identification and Development program, and the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail grant program. (This marks a full reverse on Texas Central’s early policy of utilizing private investment and eschewing all government funding.)
Unsurprisingly, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, Greater Houston Partnership CEO Bob Harvey and other city players have given this possibility their endorsement, according to the release, and Texas Central CEO Michael Bui is stoked.
“This high-speed train, using advanced, proven Shinkansen technology, has the opportunity to revolutionize rail travel in the southern U.S., and we believe Amtrak could be the perfect partner to help us achieve that,” Bui stated in the release. “We appreciate Amtrak’s continued collaboration and look forward to continuing to explore how we can partner in the development of this important project.”
The folks at Amtrak are similarly enthusiastic about scoping out a partnership since building this line—or, arguably, any high-speed rail line in Texas—would be a huge step forward for mass transit options, which plays into Amtrak’s recently created development program aimed at expanding high-speed rail service around the country.
“If we are going to add more highspeed rail to this country, the Dallas-to-Houston corridor is a compelling proposition and offers great potential,” Andy Byford, Amtrak senior vice president of high-speed rail development programs stated, according to the release. “We believe many of the country’s biggest and fastest-growing metropolitan areas, like Houston and Dallas, deserve more high quality high-speed, intercity rail service and we are proud to bring our experience to evaluate this potential project and explore opportunities with Texas Central so the state can meet its full transportation needs.”
As to what this means for the future, well, it remains to be seen. All we know for now is that Amtrak is interested, and Texas Central is still kicking.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
