AUSTIN — As one effort to build a high speed rail line in Texas continues to meet with opposition, another is trying to overturn a law passed to help block the first attempt.
Legislators have introduced a bill calling for construction of a high-speed route between Dallas and San Antonio via Austin, as well as the repeal of a law prohibiting the use of public money in connection with a privately operated high-speed system.
HB 483 was introduced by state Rep. John Bucy III (D-Austin), with a companion bill in the Senate, SB 424, introduced by Sen. Sarah Eckhardt (D-Austin). They call for the state Department of Transportation to enter into an agreement with a private company to build and operate a high-speed line along the Interstate 35 Corridor.
“It’s a technological advancement that will enhance our lives,” Bucy said in a press conference on Monday, April 28, preceding a hearing on the bill. “So let’s not get bogged down on the cost. … Yes, it will be expensive. But it doesn’t have to be a cost on us. This is saying, ‘TexDOT, go find a company. Put out bids and find a partner to build it. We don’t know what the cost is going to be, because we haven’t done the bid process yet. … We can push most of this off onto the private company, and it doesn’t have to be a strain on Texas.”
Part of the legislation would repeal section 199.003 of the state transportation code, passed in 2015 to ban the use of public money for high-speed rail.
That statute was one of the elements used to block the Texas Central project, which envisioned a Dallas-Houston high speed route. A recent effort to revive Texas Central, with Amtrak involvement and under a new primary investor, saw a 2024 federal grant rescinded earlier this month [see “FRA rescinds grant …,” Trains News Wire, April 14, 2025].
Texas Central also remains in the crosshairs of legislators; pending legislation would require the company to provide detailed financial and corporate information, while another bill would block any use of public money to alter roadways to accommodate high speed rail. [See “Texas lawmakers subpoena …,” News Wire, April 4, 2025].
The news site The Texan reports that during Monday’s Transportation Committee hearing, the two groups leading opposition to the Texas Central project spoke against repealing Section 199.003. Judge Trey Duhon, president of Texans Against High Speed Rail, said, “overturning a protection of our state funds exposes citizens from Dallas/Fort Worth to San Antonio to the same issues we have been facing between Dallas and Houston for 10 years.” A spokeswoman for ReRoute the Route, a group of Houston-area real estate interests, said the law protects taxpayers: “If a project is truly viable and private, it should neither need nor receive state taxpayer funds.”
The bill — which drew some 23 pages of public comments — remains pending; the Transportation Committee did not take action following Monday’s hearing.
For 10 years a majority of Texans have said “NO” to Tex Rail. Now another politician tries to come back door on another expensive rail line. Never trust those people, they give no good reason to do it –MONEY- in their pockets.
Enough is enough..
The 2 sponsors are from Austin so of course they will propose it for their voters. But it won’t get anywhere in the legislature.
There is a principle in journalism. The headline is “click bait”. The headline may or may not reflect what the article actually says. Fox News (online) is great at this, trying to gin up emotions for people who don’t go so far as to read the text below.
The headline of this article includes the word “support”. The article itself doesn’t demonstrate any “support”.