The Texas high-speed rail project linking Houston to Dallas has hit several roadblocks; however, a grant approved recently for nearly $64 million from the federal government for planning purposes indicates the project is still moving forward.
The $63.9 million grant comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration and was awarded just before Labor Day.
The high-speed rail project was initially overseen and managed by Texas Central, a private company that worked to raise initial funding from investors and obtain rights of way along the route, but recently, Amtrak has taken control. With the approval of the new grant, the project has advanced through the third step of the federal government’s Corridor Identification Program (CIP), according to a senior vice president with Amtrak. The CIP is meant to “guide intercity passenger rail development” and “create a pipeline of intercity passenger rail projects ready for implementation.”
The proposed line would connect Houston to Dallas via a 90-minute train ride with one stop in Brazos County.
John Sitilides, a federal affairs advisor to ReRoute the Route, a coalition opposed to the public funding of the project, told The Daily Caller, “The federal budget deficit approaches $2 trillion, our national debt exceeds $35 trillion, and the White House is wasting scarce federal taxpayer dollars on this controversial, failing, insolvent and foolish $40 billion Amtrak pork project.”
The original Texas Central project was estimated to cost $10 billion but after years of delay, it is now estimated by some to cost as much as $40 billion. A similar high-speed rail project in California had a starting price tag of $33 billion in 2008 and now is expected to exceed $100 billion.
