DALLAS — Continuing to line up major partners and suppliers for its project, Texas Central Railway this week announced it has signed a contract to have Spanish firm Renfe serve as “Early Operator” for its proposed Dallas-Houston high speed rail line.
As early operator, Renfe will be involved in design and development of commercial aspects of the system, providing expertise for the decision-making process. The company has developed that expertise by playing a major role in Spain’s rail system, moving more than 510 million passengers and 17 million tons of freight in 2019. Its overall operations include operating 5,000 trains daily on 7,500 miles of track.
“Renfe has an established reputation for excellence in railroad operations in Spain and across the world,” Texas Central CEO Carlos Aguilar said in a press release. “With their decades of expertise, they were a natural fit to join our team of best-in-class global experts setting the foundation for this new jobs-creating industry we are bringing to Texas.”
Other recent agreements include a contract with civil engineering contractor Webuild to lead the construction team, and a deal with Kiewit Infrastructure South Co. to build the electrical systems [see “Digest: Texas Central signs $1.6 billion contract …,” Trains News Wire, May 4, 2021].
Not exactly who I’d have chosen as an early operator, there are at least a half dozen other national systems who do a much better job than Renfe, most likely it came down to Renfe being less expensive(cheaper) than the other better systems.