Can Amtrak Finally Bring High-Speed Rail To Texas?

The United States is in a race against time to improve its transportation system. 50 years ago people didn't think about, well, maybe we should have had

high

-

speed

rail

in the United States a long time ago. No doubt, other parts of the world have started

high

-

speed

rail

with great benefit to them. Federal planners see an opportunity to

bring

this service to Texas. I would argue that the Texas Triangle is the country's low hanging fruit for improving intercity passenger rail service. In 2014, a group called Texas Central made its bid to

bring

high-speed rail to the Texas Triangle, with bullet trains traveling at more than 205 mph.

The goal was to connect Dallas to Houston in less than 90 minutes. You can't do that in a car. You can't do that if you fly. If you consider going to the airport, going through security and returning from the airport at the other end. But after a decade of talks, little progress has been made. The original proposal was to build this multi-million dollar megaproject without taxpayer money, until Amtrak announced a plan to revive the project in late 2023. Everything is ready to go. This is what we call shovel ready. We just have to reinvest in the effort. They are now in the process of getting financing.

If they started construction, the total construction period would be 7 or 8 years. But the backlash in Texas has deep roots and there are no signs of it going away anytime soon. Even if there is a situation where I get knocked off the road, I will continue to fight for the Texans. With $66 billion in federal funding for passenger rail at stake, the project is ready for a revival. Is Texas ready for bullet trains? And what will high-speed rail service mean for the millions of Texans in its path? The race to bring high-speed rail to the Texas Triangle dates back to 1987.

And we came so close that we got the legislation passed. We managed to get the franchise granted to the French. We compete with the Germans. Ben Barnes was an early investor in a project to build a system in Texas that would mimic France's TGV system. The effort

finally

failed in 1994. Southwest Airlines, which was the main opposition, Southwest Airlines, spent $37 million and did a very good job convincing Texas farmers that their cows were going to stop giving milk, and all kinds of Of horror. Stories were going to happen if we had these electric trains running through Texas.

Today, most Texans use the state's 80,000 miles of highways to get around. You know, our transportation system is really trying to keep up with our population growth. Travelers experience around 40 hours of delay a year. The proposed high-speed rail line in Texas would connect Houston and Dallas, two of the country's largest cities. I don't think you can find a better combination of cities than Dallas and Houston. Cities are in that sweet spot, the sweet spot you're looking for between 200 and 600-800 miles. Too short to fly, too long to drive. Andy Byford joined Amtrak in 2023 to think strategically about high-speed rail in the United States.

We think there are huge opportunities here and certainly the market research that has been done pre and post Covid shows that there is a compelling business case that people want that convenience, that security, that reliability of being able to do it in the future, potentially. Leave Dallas in the afternoon, go to Houston to see the game, or maybe have dinner and return later that day. Texas is probably the most obvious, or the one that would have the greatest return on investment, because it requires a trip that can easily take six hours with some traffic, and reduces it to a train trip from one center to another in about 60 minutes. minutes.

Congressman Seth Moulton was previously managing director of Texas Central from 2011 to 2012. If high-speed rail is not built between Dallas and Houston, then there are only two options. You will have to expand the airports, or you will have to expand the highway, or you will have to do both. If built, the Texas Bullet train could transport more than 7 million passengers between Houston and Dallas each year. That would take about 15,000 vehicles off highway routes, or 14.5% of expected daily traffic, by 2035. The bullet train route is expected to disrupt 1,700 parcels of land, like this farm outside Dallas. This is our family farm, Morney-Berry Farm.

It is in the southern part of Dallas, Texas. The proposed bullet train would travel on elevated tracks. Planners hope this will allow landowners and wildlife to cross paths. Even with that concession, the project could eliminate thousands of acres of agricultural land. In fact, it is planned to pass over this house. Jody Berry says her family has farmed this land for generations. In the 1920s, she became a member of Texans Against High Speed ​​Rail, a grassroots collective opposing the Texas Central. This is going to cut Madison County in half as it will all the other counties along the line.

We know the stories of the interstate highway that tore up neighborhoods, divided cities, and often cut through racial minority neighborhoods. High-speed rail is very different because, first of all, it is much less land-based. A high-speed rail line can accommodate 8 to 10 highway lanes. So think about how much less space you'll need for high-speed rail in 2022. A Texas Supreme Court decision gave the sponsors of this high-speed rail project the power of eminent domain. But just after the court's decision, Texas Central's management team mysteriously resigned. Groups supporting the project did not respond to multiple requests for comment from CNBC.

I think they put all those conversations with people, calling them on hold until they can get to a point where they have a path forward for that communication. The decision gave Central Texas supporters the legal right to purchase land along their planned route if the owners receive adequate compensation. Finding out that the high-speed train could pass through our property has made it very difficult for me to sleep. The eminent domain decision was made by the Texas Supreme Court, but it's too early for me, really, to comment on whether we would have to go that route or not.

It's certainly not something we would like to do. I hope that over time we can convince all Texans of the enormous benefits this project would bring. I think it's easier for people at the end of the lines to be more supportive. It's harder to ask people along the corridor to support it, because they're seeing the impact of the particular facility on the new right-of-way. Right-of-way is not just an issue in the countryside. In Houston, for example, the proposed road will end about six miles west of the city center. Going to downtown light rail under this current plan will require a 20-minute bus ride.

You know, there are cities that are already really built, so finding a space for that is a problem. But I think, you know, it's going to be very important to make sure that it also interconnects with the local transit system. In Dallas, the elevated tracks will lead directly to the DART light rail system, but the Texas Central alignment ends there and does not connect to downtown Fort Worth and its population of more than 950,000 people. That's why we think ending high-speed rail in Dallas is a mistake. A coalition of North Texas planners is looking to build their own connection from Fort Worth to Dallas.

We don't know the new Texas Central Partners holding company, so we have no idea what its vision will be. But some members of the group have called for changes that could trigger a potentially costly environmental review. The National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, was created in 1970 and can be used to stop projects. The problem we found in Texas is that, ironically, although high-speed rail is fundamentally so good for the environment, it was often environmental regulations that slowed our progress. Challenges like these can cause delays, which can increase the costs of a project. In February 2024, the Texas Central project was estimated to cost more than $33 billion to execute.

Another high-speed rail project connecting Los Angeles to San Francisco also faces delays. The project was approved by California voters in 2008 after $1.3 billion in environmental reviews. Costs have skyrocketed. Completing the entire 500-mile system could now cost between $88 billion and $128 billion. The federal government announced plans to partner with Central Texas sponsors in late 2023, giving the project new momentum. The United States was a world leader in railroads and in the 1950s the decision was made to build the interstate system. The roads we use today and also aviation really took off with the jet era and progressively over time the railroad became less important to the United States.

So we want to change that. Amtrak is wholly owned by the United States government. Achieved over 28 million customer trips in 2023. Since Covid, we're actually back to higher than pre-COVID levels. People are flocking to the railways again. But what's missing most is true high-speed rail, which would ultimately be transformative for this country over the right distance and with the right city combinations. Funding for Amtrak is a constant obstacle in Washington. The agency struggles to make a profit anywhere outside of the Northeast Corridor and relies on subsidies to stay afloat. At the same time, the government is subsidizing the interstate highway system at a much faster rate than ever for passenger rail projects.

You know, sometimes elected officials have no problem giving massive subsidies for roads. Interstates. For some reason, railroads seem to be treated differently. It is not exclusive to this country. The Texas Department of Transportation plans to spend $9 billion to widen parts of Interstate 45 within Houston, and more than $6 billion to widen the Interstate 35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio. Any form of transportation is subsidized and I have faith in the younger generation that is emerging today. And, you know, it's their children who are going to suffer the consequences of an inadequate transportation system. Anywhere else in the world.

We are trying to get people off planes, out of cars, and onto high-speed trains because they are much more efficient. Congressman Seth Moulton is seeking more funding for bullet trains with the American High-Speed ​​Rail Act of 2024. An earlier version of this bill did not pass in 2021. Still, the government plans to spend $66 billion on improvements to passenger rail systems with a focus on high-speed rail. That includes a route connecting Vancouver, Canada, with Seattle and Portland. Another route would connect Atlanta to Charlotte. These proposals, along with Texas Central, would receive $500,000 in the Corridor Identification program. Those rewards are relatively small compared to California's $3.1 billion grant to advance the high-speed rail connection from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

Another grant would go toward a connection from Las Vegas to the Southern California valley. That Brightline, a privately funded high-speed rail line between Las Vegas and California, will parallel an interstate highway subsidized by American taxpayers. There is a compelling argument for providing significant and lasting subsidies to keep railways running because that has a huge net beneficial effect on the economy. The Texas bullet train will be based on the design of Japan's Shinkansen system. The Shinkansen runs on long welded rails and the track has minimal curves, allowing for higher speeds. It connects 22 major cities in Japan. About 64 billion people have traveled on the Shinkansen since it opened in 1964.

The United States is something of a greenfield for high-speed rail. Masaru Sano is a corporate officer at Central Japan Railways, also known as JR Central. Mr. Yosano also served as lead consultant for the Texas project. His team has marketed bullet trains in cities around the world. The Taiwan High-Speed ​​Railway began operations in 2007 using Japanese Shinkansen technology, and at JRC we have provided technical assistance to the Taiwan High-Speed ​​Railway since 2014. Furthermore, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation granted the Texas Central project a loan of $300 million in 2018. This investment was aligned with the Japanese government's export strategy. They asked national companies to develop 226 billion dollars in new exports to earn until 2025.

The Shinkansen system, like the projects ofHigh-speed trains in the United States face substantial cost overruns when planned. Unlike American projects, the Central Shinkansen line was built quickly, opening just five years after the start of its environmental review. The economic and environmental benefits in Japan have been obvious. Trains can carry more passengers using less energy and producing fewer carbon emissions compared to planes or cars. If a Shinkansen were built in Texas, it would be expected to contribute significantly in terms of reducing CO2 emissions and energy consumption. The trip from Tokyo to Osaka is 376 miles long and would take 7 to 8 hours to cover its 3.5 hours by train.

And there is nothing like it in the United States. And just from an environmental standpoint, but from a cost per passenger mile, you'll be able to ride high-speed rail at a much lower cost than driving your car. So it's going to change the standard of living and the amenities and the life. And I'm talking about the blue collar person. I'm talking about the college student. Amtrak says the Texas Central route could open in the early 2030s if it passes a financial review. If we don't take advantage of the opportunity now, we are almost saying we will never take advantage of it, and that would be a huge omission for the United States.