‘Now’s the time’: Amtrak leader urges momentum on Dallas-to-Houston high-speed rail

HURST — Booming demand, Texas’s rapidly expanding population and growing political will have converged to create the right environment to move high-speed rail ahead, Amtrak leadership said Tuesday.

Andy Byford, Amtrak’s senior vice president of high-speed rail development, told participants of the 20th annual Southwestern Rail Conference in Hurst that the Dallas-to-Houston corridor “ticks all the boxes” for a high-speed rail project. It would connect two large population centers, it has straightforward topography and “suboptimal alternatives” for travel, pointing to congestion on Interstate 45 and area airports.

“If you put together all those characteristics, and then you figure out okay, which route would you build? There’s one that really stands out, and that is Dallas to Houston,” Byford said.

The proposed train would shuttle passengers from Dallas to Houston in about 90 minutes compared to the three-and-a-half-hour car trip on Interstate 45. Texas Central Partners, developers of the project, plan to model the bullet train after partner Japan Central Railways’ Shinkansen system.

Amtrak announced last fall that it would explore a partnership with Texas Central to move the project forward, and it was awarded $500,000 for planning and development from the federal Corridor Identification and Development Program. The grant is a sliver of the estimated tens of billions needed to complete the project.

The U.S. Department of Transportation and Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism welcomed Amtrak leadership of the rail project following a State Dinner between President Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida last week.

Byford was not present at the meeting but said there is “huge interest” in the project among Japanese and American leadership.

“I did have a meeting with Secretary Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation, and he said he himself is very committed to the project, that the president himself is very committed to the project,” Byford said.

Federal Railroad Administration administrator Amit Bose, who gave a keynote address at the conference, did not give specifics on the meeting when asked about it Tuesday but emphasized the federal government’s openness to exploring more transportation options in the state.

“From a federal perspective, we cannot overlook how big of a state that Texas obviously is and how much growth is happening here, especially in the Dallas and Houston metropolitan areas,” Bose said. “We always look for opportunities to give people who want to travel between these two metropolitan areas [and] not just rely on I-45, not to just have sit in traffic on I-45, so we want to explore options.”

A seven-story-high elevated station near Cadiz and Austin streets in Dallas’ Cedars neighborhood has already received federal clearance. Regional planners at the North Central Texas Council of Governments hope to continue the rail line west to Fort Worth with a stop in Arlington.

The corridor between Fort Worth and Dallas began the environmental review phase in March despite skepticism about the project from Dallas City Council members. Some fear an at-grade or elevated train route could jeopardize the new Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, though planners are doubtful there is a realistic path forward for an underground route.

Hunt Realty Investments, one of Dallas’ biggest property owners, says the elevated rail route would compromise their planned $5 billion development project. The route would slice through the southwest corner of downtown Dallas where Hunt Realty Investments owns the more than 20-acre Reunion property, which includes the Hyatt Regency Hotel and Reunion Tower.

Forty-two alternate route alignments have been considered and rejected since 2020, including a subway option that would require a 17-story vertical transfer, adding at least a 20-minute delay for passengers.

Dallas leaders who raised questions about the Fort Worth stop have said they support the Dallas-to-Houston leg of the project, saying it would make the region a top destination for travelers.

Byford acknowledged the hurdles, including that right-of-way for the project has not been fully obtained, particularly around Dallas, and that the project lacks funding. But if the project successfully gets through the Corridor ID process, leadership can apply for a federal-state partnership for grant funding. That process would take about a year, with construction projected to begin in the 2030s.

“There’s still a long way to go but exciting times nonetheless,” Byford said. “If we’re ever going to introduce high-speed rail in the U.S., now’s the time.”

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