The US, despite decades of research and exploration, remains without a viable high-speed rail capability.
Since 1987, investors have been trying to bring superfast service to Texas. In 2014, a group organized under the name Texas Central made a last-ditch effort to connect Dallas to Houston with a bullet train that travels at more than 200 mph, cutting a three-and-a-half hour train ride down to 90 minutes.
“You can’t do that in a car,” said Andy Byford, senior vice president of high-speed rail programs for Amtrak. “You can’t do that if you’re flying, considering the trip to the airport, going through security and coming back from the airport at the other end.”
Byford is the latest in a long line of US policy pundits calling for more high-speed rail service in the US. In 2023, Amtrak revived hopes for a high-speed train in the Texas Triangle when announced plans to expand partnership with Texas Central.
The fast-growing region is home to both the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and Houston, two of the country’s largest population centers.
“If you don’t build high-speed rail between Dallas and Houston, you only have two options,” said Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., former managing director of Texas Central. “You can either expand the airport or expand the highway. Travel time between these cities will not decrease. The drive between Dallas and Houston will still take at least three hours.”
Local experts told CNBC that the growing number of Texas drivers is taking a toll on roads in the area, leading to traffic congestion and safety issues.
“Our transportation system is just trying to keep up with population growth,” said Brianna Glover, a senior fellow at the Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University. “Every year passengers are delayed by approximately 40 hours.”
The Texas Central project was repeatedly delayed as proponents navigated various regulatory hurdles, including environmental reviews and disputes over ownership. In 2022 Texas Supreme Court said Texas Central, a private enterprise, meets the legal definition of a publicly owned intercity electric railroad company, giving it eminent domain authority.
“When my nephew notified me in the eminent domain article, I was absolutely shocked,” said Jody Berry, a Dallas farmer who opposed the Texas Central initiative. The proposed route of the Texas high-speed rail project crosses the Morney-Berry Farm, which the Berry family has farmed for generations.
“Learning that high-speed rail could potentially come through our area made it very difficult for me to sleep,” Berry said.
The project is expected to cost at least $33.6 billion, according to a March 2023 estimate from the Reason Foundation. Similar high-speed rail projects around the world have faced significant development cost overruns, including Japan’s Tokaido Shinkansen system. The Texas route is designed using N700 vehicles found on the Shinkansen system.
Texas’ efforts received significant support from Japanese firms and the US government. In 2018, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation issued a $300 million loan to support the project. And in late 2023, Texas Central received a Corridor ID program grant to explore the route’s potential for partnership with Amtrak.
With historical $66 Billion Passenger Rail Release, the US government under Biden appears to be making the best choices in generations to build high-speed rail systems. But the project itself, as well as other government-subsidized projects such as a California project connecting Los Angeles to San Francisco, remain uncertain. The estimated cost of the California project has soared from $33 billion to more than $100 billion amid delays and opposition from rural landowners, according to the California High Speed Rail Authority.
“The Biden administration’s push for high-speed rail fails to take into account several realities, including lack of consumer demand, economic viability and the impact on existing rail infrastructure,” Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, said at a November 2023 congressional hearing. of the year. on intercity passenger rail systems.
Supporters of Texas Central declined repeated requests from CNBC to comment on the project’s progress and expected completion date.
Watch the video above to learn about the long-running effort to build a high-speed rail system in the Texas Triangle.