WASHINGTON — Saying the Federal Railroad Administration and Amtrak agree the project “is a waste of taxpayer funds,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced today (April 14, 2025) that the government is rescinding a $63.9 million grant for the proposed high-speed rail line between Dallas and Houston.
“The Texas Central Railway project was proposed as a private venture,” Duffy said in a press release. “If the private sector believes this project is feasible, they should carry the pre-construction work forward, rather than relying on Amtrak and the American taxpayer to bail them out.”
The release says the capital cost of the Texas Central project is “now believed to be over $40 billion — making construction unrealistic and a risky venture for the taxpayer.” It also says the FRA “will be able to reallocate the grant’s approximately $60 million balance … to other projects that support safe, efficient, and reliable rail transit.”
The money involved had not been distributed, because the grants are used to reimburse spending by the recipients. It will be returned to the general Corridor ID funding set-aside; an FRA spokesman said no information was immediately available on how the money might be used or a timeline for when that might occur.
Trains News Wire has also requested comment from Amtrak.
Kleinheinz Capital Partners, led by CEO John Kleinheinz and described as the lead investment sponsor in Texas Central, said in a statement the decision is “good news for the overall project.”
“The first Trump Administration gave this project the green light, but after President Trump left office the project got hung up in the politics of the Biden Administration’s efforts to jam Amtrak and politics into the equation,” the company said in its statement. “We agree with Secretary Duffy that this project should be led by the private sector, and we will be proud to take it forward. This project is shovel-ready and will create significant new jobs and economic growth for Texas as part of President Trump’s efforts to boost the U.S. economy.”
Not surprisingly, the group Texans Against High Speed Rail hailed the decision.
“This decision puts a nail in the coffin in what had become the biggest bait and switch to be perpetrated on taxpayers in generations,” Judge Trey Duhon, the group’s president, in a social media post. “What was originally conceived as a ‘completely privately funded’ project was being foisted on taxpayers, and we are thankful that the DOT and FRA recognized this for what it was — a bad idea.”
Duffy called the Texas Central project “a distraction from Amtrak’s core mission of improving its existing subpar services,” while the release noted Amtrak’s continuing deficits and what it called “high-profile operational challenges, including delays on its own Northeast Corridor and the loss of its Horizon coach fleet to corrosion.”
Amtrak announced it was partnering with Texas Central to evaluate the project in August 2023, during a period when the company was largely dormant following the departure of CEO Carlos Aguilar in June 2022. [See “Amtrak working with Texas Central …,” News Wire, Aug. 9, 2023]. The project received the federal grant for planning under the FRA’s Corridor Identification and Development program in September 2024. Amtrak had begun looking for a “delivery partner” for the project earlier this year [see “Amtrak begins process …,” News Wire, Feb. 27, 2025].
When announced, the project seemed to be an ideal market for high-speed rail, capable of competing with airlines and providing a faster alternative to driving, promising a 240-mile trip in less than 90 minutes. But it ran aground in the face of opposition from landowners along the route, as well as Texas legislators. It eventually won a court case determining that it had the right to obtain property through the power of eminent domain, but by the time the Texas Supreme Court made that ruling, the company was largely defunct [see “State Supreme Court affirms Texas Central’s right …,” News Wire, June 27, 2022].
The Texas legislature, which had previously passed a bill prohibiting public funding for the project, has taken further aim at Texas Central in its current session. It is considering a law that would prevent any public money from being spent to alter roadways to accommodate construction of the high-speed route. [See “Texas legislation on roadways …,” News Wire, April 2, 2025].
House legislators have also subpoenaed financial and other information from Texas Central. Members of the House Transportation committee took that action because they were dissatisfied with answers from a Kleinheinz Capital representative at a hearing on a bill to require such information. [See “Texas lawmakers subpoena …,” News Wire, April 4, 2025].
The DOT announcement does acknowledge the basic soundness of the concept.
“Connecting Dallas and Houston remains one of the more exciting opportunities for new passenger rail in the United States,” FRA Chief Counsel Kyle Fields said in the DOT release. “Today’s announcement reflects a recognition by Amtrak and FRA that federalizing the Texas Central Railway proposal is not the best use of taxpayer funding.”
It is the second significant action by the DOT under Duffy regarding high speed rail, both of which address funding. In February, Duffy announced the FRA would conduct a “compliance review” of the California High-Speed Rail Authority,” suggesting already-awarded federal funds could be withdrawn based on the outcome. [See “FRA to examine …,” News Wire, Feb. 20, 2025].
— Updated at 7:37 p.m. CT with statement from Texas Central’s lead investor; updated April 15 at 7:41 a.m. with comment from Texans Against High Speed Rail; updated at 10:25 a.m. with comment from FRA; updated at 11:23 a.m. to clarify role of John Klieinheinz.
The other FRA grants & funding approved by Congress in the Infrastructure Bill will meet the same fate whether it be shortline or passenger rail projects, including the NEC tunnel project & the money for the new LD equipment. GONE! It will be reallocated to Hwys (Drill, Drill, Drill) & aviation projects & tax cuts for the rich!
For anyone who believes that Texas Central has a $100 million in cash just sitting around, I have bridge in Brooklyn to sell ya.
The problem is easily fixed if you mandate equal funding of trains as roads. Or simply stop funding roads and see how competitive trains will become.
Trains are first class travel.
If you think countless billions for a few thousand riders is an easy fix then go for it
Take those millions of dollars recovered and put them towards much needed equipment built upon the Viewliner platform. No need to reinvent the wheel.
My thoughts exactly James!
Amtrak has not said anything yet about the Horizon problem. Duffy’s statement may be just opinion about the Horizons but opinions VS facts seem to be the way the present administration works. He spoke of the loss of Horizons.
“Duffy called the Texas Central project “a distraction from Amtrak’s core mission of improving its existing subpar services,” while the release noted Amtrak’s continuing deficits and what it called “high-profile operational challenges, including delays on its own Northeast Corridor and the loss of its Horizon coach fleet to corrosion.”
I have never believed in this project for two seconds.
All-new dedicated r/w’s cost way more money than can ever be worth. Even EXISTING r/w’s consume more money than anyone has. If Minnesota wants $719 million in capital for existing trackage, how much does an all-new, ground-up route cost?
Whatever the stated projected cost of this project might be, multiply that by a substantial integer, and the difference would be paid by the taxpayer. No thank you.
Sorry, folks. We can’t afford mega-billions in capital for the count of rail passengers that likely would not stretch the capacity of a two-lane county trunk highway.
If the entire project capital cost would be the viaduct within the four borders of the rendering in this article, we don’t even have that much to spend
They have 25% of the right of way already for Texas Central and most of the planned right of way was on a power company easement. They won the court cases involving emminent domain as well in the state. The problem with the project is not the ROW. It’s with the bad Executive ledership and lack of financial backing by Japan which was the premise of how the project initially attracted money. Even with the FRA pullout they still have cash on hand by my memory over $100 million still in the coffers. Get rid of Amtrak and get the FRA out of the picture and sink or swim for whats left is how this should be done. My guess is Texas Central will cease to be a viable project or will be sold to a more competent management company. They are ticking off the state legislature which has oil money to spend, they are ticking off local land owners, they are unresponsive to the City of Dallas / Fort Worth proposal for a segment between those cities, etc, etc. Basically, Texas Central did itself in.