Despite decades of research and study, the United States still has no real high-speed rail option.
Investors have been trying to introduce bullet train service to Texas since 1987. In 2014, a group called Texas Central launched the latest attempt to connect Dallas and Houston via bullet trains with speeds exceeding 200 miles per hour, reducing the three-and-a-half-hour drive to a 90-minute train ride.
“You can’t do that in a car,” said Andy Byford, Amtrak’s senior vice president of high-speed rail programs. “If you’re flying, if you think about going to the airport, going through security, coming in from the other end of the airport You can’t do that by going back.”
Byford is the latest in a long line of U.S. policy experts calling for more high-speed rail connections in the United States. Amtrak revived hopes for high-speed rail in the Texas Triangle in 2023 when Announces Intention to Expand Partnership with Texas Central University.
This rapidly growing region includes the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area and Houston, two of the largest population centers in the United States.
“If you don’t build high-speed rail between Dallas and Houston, you have only two options,” said Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., former managing director of Texas Central Railroad. “You can expand airports or expand highways. It’s not going to reduce travel time between those cities. It’s still at least three hours between Dallas and Houston.”
Local experts told CNBC that the surge in Texas drivers is taking a toll on the region’s roads, causing traffic congestion and safety issues.
“Our transportation system is really struggling to keep up with population growth,” said Brianne Glover, senior research scientist at the Texas A&M University Transportation Institute. “Every year, commuters experience about 40 hours of delays. “
The Texas Center plan has been repeatedly delayed as proponents grappled with various regulatory hurdles, including environmental reviews and property rights disputes. 2022, Texas Supreme Court Declares the Texas Central Railroad Company to be a private entity within the legal definition of a public interurban electric railroad company, granting it the power of eminent domain.
“I was absolutely shocked when my nephew notified me via an article about eminent domain,” said Jody Berry, a Dallas farmer who opposed the Central Texas initiative. The proposed route for the Texas High-Speed Rail project passes through the Moneyberry Farm, which has been farmed by the Berry family for generations.
“It gave me sleepless nights to find out that the high-speed rail could go through our property,” Berry said.
The project is expected to cost at least $33.6 billion, according to March 2023 estimates from the Reason Foundation. Similar high-speed rail projects around the world have faced serious cost overruns during development, including Japan’s Tokaido Shinkansen system. The route in Texas is designed to utilize N700 vehicles on the Shinkansen system.
Texas’ efforts have received strong support from Japanese businesses and the U.S. government. In 2018, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation issued a US$300 million loan to support this project. In late 2023, the Central Texas region received a Corridor ID Program grant to study the route’s potential in partnership with Amtrak.
historic $66 billion committed to passenger railThe U.S. government under Biden appears to have made the best choice in generations in building a high-speed rail system. But uncertainty remains over that project and other publicly subsidized projects, such as the California project connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco. Delays and resistance from rural landowners have pushed the estimated cost of California’s plan to soar from $33 billion to more than $100 billion, according to the California High-Speed Rail Authority.
Texas Republican Rep. Troy Nehls said at a congressional hearing in November 2023: “The Biden administration’s expectations for high-speed rail fail to take into account several realities, including a lack of customer demand, economic feasibility, and Impact on existing rail infrastructure.” Intercity Passenger Rail Systems.
Texas Central’s backers declined repeated requests from CNBC to comment on the project’s progress and expected completion date.
watch video Above you can learn about the long-term effort to bring a high-speed rail system to the Texas Triangle.
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