It’s moving at a creeping pace, but the long-delayed highspeed rail line between Houston and Dallas has just been given another revivifying jolt via a nearly $64 million federal grant from the Federal Railroad Administration.
In other words, just over a year after Amtrak first made its interest in what could become the state’s first highspeed rail project known, the federally back corporation that operates most of the nation’s intercity passenger trains has made it clear that this isn’t just a passing fancy.
The funds are part of a larger $153 million infusion from the U.S. Department of Transportation, with this money being earmarked to help continue moving the project forward and to cover some operating costs.
The project, which has been in the works for more than a decade, was originally supposed to be privately funded, and Texas Central officials continually insisted that the plan hadn’t changed as they bought up land, gained FRA route approval, announced plans to turn Northwest Mall into a gleaming bullet train station and insisted construction would surely break ground soon.
But the lack of funding, paired with lawsuits and Covid-19 seemingly spelled the company’s – and the project’s – doom. By 2020, Texas Central representatives went quiet about their construction plans and by 2022 the company CEO had abruptly resigned, the board had dissolved and the whole thing appeared to be dead in the water.
Until late last summer, that is, when Amtrak, now lead by Andy Byford, New York City’s renowned and beloved “Train Daddy”, took an official interest in the project. That lead to a $500,000 supplement allowing Amtrak officials to study Texas Central’s plans and evaluate the Houston-to-Dallas line’s chances of success.
Now, so long as the Byford can still go to the Amtrak board and say that this project utilizing Japanese shinkansen technology is viable and likely to thrive, Amtrak officials plan to keep pushing the line forward, Byford recently told Dallas station KERA.
“This is very much a project that Amtrak is now leading,” Byford said, according to KERA. “I have to make sure that in any recommendation I give to my CEO and my board, that is a project that is worthwhile pursuing. And right now, having looked at the revenue forecasts and done our due diligence to date, I still think that is the case. That again, though, does not mean that it’s a done deal.”
If all goes well, people could be on trains darting between Houston and Dallas at 240 mph by the 2030s, according to Byford.
The highspeed rail line is still far from a done deal, however. While this infusion of federal dollars will help, Texas Central has still only secured about 30 percent of the land needed for the currently proposed route. Experts predict the route will cost about $30 billion by the time it is completed, provided by a mix of public and private funding.
It will also most likely require widespread political support, a tricky proposition considering the fact that rural landowners, represented by the nonprofit Texans Against High Speed Rail, have been fighting against the Houston-to-Dallas line for almost as long as the project has been percolating. They insist that this grant, like any money put into the Houston-to-Dallas line, is a waste of taxpayer dollars, a stance they are unlikely to alter anytime soon.
Despite these complexities, Amtrak is moving forward with the line which Amtrak officials still regard as the most promising U.S. bullet train project currently in the works, and for good reason.
After all, an ideal shinkansen line would be laid out on mostly flat land running a decent span of miles between two large population centers. As anyone who has ever made that unending drive up I-45 well knows, there is nothing in the world that feels as flat as the expanse between Houston and Dallas.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
