According to a Community Impact Newspaper report, Texas Central, the company undertaking the project, has acquired about 30 percent of the land parcels needed to support the land development necessary for the project. Texas Central aims to build a Japanese-style bullet train which would travel between Houston and Dallas, a distance of about 250 miles.
The report quotes Texas Central Vice President of External Affairs David Hagy, who on Feb. 14 told the Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce that Texas Central is “actively buying (property) now” for the project.
Texas Central’s bullet train will be modeled after the Japanese N700-I bullet train, which has been in service for a half-century. According to its website, Texas Central’s trains will travel between Houston and Dallas in less than 90 minutes, with trains departing every half-hour during peak periods each day, and every hour during off-peak periods. The trains, according to the website, will be capable of operating at speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour.
Washington, D.C.-based infrastructure developer CG/LA Infrastructure named Texas Central as one of the top infrastructure projects in the world. In a March 4 news release, CG/LA calls the project a “game changer” and a “catalyst for creating jobs.” According to Texas Central’s website, the company hopes to begin construction in 2019.
Texas Central was dealt a blow in February to its land acquisition efforts. According to the Madisonville (Texas) Meteor newspaper, a state judge ruled in a lawsuit that Texas Central, although incorporated as a railroad with the Texas Secretary of State’s Office, is not a railroad, and has no power to acquire land through eminent domain.
The suit was filed by the group “Texans Against High-Speed Rail” and other parties. Community Impact Newspaper quotes Hagy as saying all of the land purchased thus far has been through voluntary sale and not eminent domain. On its website, Texas Central says the company would only use eminent domain as a “last resort” for acquiring land, and that the company is seeking to use existing rights-of-way to build the rail line.
John, I don’t know from where you hail,but stereotyping all of the people from an entire state is totally ridiculous!
I donno… If the manly Texinz start a-buildin’ them-thar-trains, this could “flip” the conservative idealogical mindset on trains. Instead of lie-bral pansies trying to get REAL Mericans out-a their constitutionally-guaranteed automobiles, it will be conservatives building free-enterprise lovin’ manly REAL Merican trains in order to make this great-n-glorious country safe from evil-doers and terrrssss!
I’m sure that all or at least most railroads (both interstate and intrastate) acquired at least some of their right of way before they laid any track. Didn’t this set a legal president that would also apply to Texas Central? What was that judge thinking? Comments Anna.
Do you reckon that Texans Against High Speed Rail has a promoter and benefactor by the name of Southwest Airlines?
This is just like “All Abroad Florida”, it is a Intrastate Rapid Transit. Both are not under the FELA and will not be under the FRA as a railroad. Their employees will be contracted and will not be paying into the Railroad Retirement System. (RRR).