High-speed rail could be coming to the Metroplex by early in the next decade.
Plans were announced Wednesday in Fort Worth to bring the fast means of transportation from Fort Worth to Houston.
The commission for high-speed rail in the DFW region said they are only in the beginning stages of the project, but they feel bringing this form of transportation here is a strong possibility.
However, money is always the first obstacle.
“Financial problems is billions of dollars in an environment where billions of dollars for transportation infrastructure are difficult to come by,” said high-speed rail commissioner Bill Meadows.
A Japanese company has already started initial plans to bring high-speed rail from Houston to Dallas. The commission in DFW wants to make sure Fort Worth and Arlington are connected to the plan.
“We have to put our big boy pants on and think of the entire state at one time,” said North Central Texas Council of Governments Director of Transportation Michael Morris.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
If the high-speed rail is brought to DFW, the 200 mph train could get you from Fort Worth to Dallas in roughly 18 minutes. If you want to travel from Fort Worth to Houston your trip would be roughly 90 minutes.
Commissioners said the Metroplex, which is supposed to reach a population of 11 million by 2040, needs more options for transportation.
“You work hard because it’s important,” said Meadows. “It’s important for moving people of this region and this state."
Meadows said the Japanese company has a goal of getting a high-speed rail from Houston to Dallas complete by 2021 or 2022, but said there is no timetable to connect the Houston line to the rest of the Metroplex.
