The Biden Administration's Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg threw his support behind a high-speed train project between Dallas and Houston, kickstarting a project delayed for years.
In August 2023, Amtrak joined the project after Texas Central and Japanese investors slowly backed away from previous plans. In an interview with Lone Star Politics, Secretary Buttigieg said the new vision has "enormous potential."
"We believe in this. Obviously it has to turn into a more specific design and vision but everything I've seen makes me very excited about this," said Sec. Buttigieg.
The secretary cited how the population is laid out in Texas. The cities in the "Texas Triangle" - Houston, San Antonio, through Austin to Dallas - are a long drive or short flight away. That, mixed with a lot of potential customers, makes it a prime case for high-speed rail.
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In December 2023, the Dallas to Houston Amtrak submitted the project to the Federal Railroad Administration's Corridor ID program and it received $500,000. The money will go to prepare the outline of the project, a cost estimate, and timeline known as a Service Development Plan (SDP). Amtrak is working on that SDP currently. After the plan is finalized, Amtrak will submit a final design, construction plans, and gather required permits including environmental reviews.
After all that, the train project will be added to a pipeline of projects for priority Federal funding through the Federal State Partnership-National Program.
The North Central Texas Council of Governments also submitted plans for a high-speed train between Fort Worth and Dallas. That plan also is on the list of Corridor ID grants. The Fort Worth leg recently received pushback from Dallas City Council and major real-estate developer Hunt Realty Investments.
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A Los Angeles to Las Vegas public-private partnership and a Los Angeles to San Francisco project were previously in the Corridor ID program. Those projects recently received roughly $3 billion each from the Federal government. Secretary Buttigieg tells NBC 5 the Dallas to Houston leg may be on deck next if the paperwork comes through in the months and years ahead.
"Looking all around the country, one of the most interesting and promising projects to come next is that Texas Central vision," said Sec. Buttigieg.
The most intense pushback on the project comes from landowners in between Dallas and Houston who don't want to sell their land, don't want the massive construction, or the speeding train through their property. Earlier, the project received eminent domain power from a Texas court. People living and lawmakers representing the area around a proposed Bryan-College Station stop have largely advocated against such a project.
When asked, Secretary Buttigieg said using eminent domain must coexist with property rights. He told NBC 5 his department will side with the landowners if they're being abused.
"You've got to do right by the landowners who could be impacted. It's up to the project sponsor to do that," said Buttigieg, "We will come in and make sure that everybody's rights are upheld."
In mid-April there's a large gathering of train advocates, companies, federal and state officials in Hurst.
Despite the years of delay, back-and-forth, and changes to the plan, Secretary Buttigieg says he hopes bullet trains are the future of American transportation.
"I really believe that the first time someone in America sees true high-speed rail, there's going to be no going back," he said.
