Texas Central—the ‘Other’ U.S. High-Speed Rail Project

When it comes to high-speed rail in the U.S., the California High-Speed Rail Authority gets a lot of attention in the press.

This is due in part to the fact that the CHSRA is a government-funded project, while the other big high-speed rail project in the U.S. – the Texas Central – is privately funded. We thought it would be worthwhile to cover some of the major milestones the Texas Central reached in 2020.

Major Milestones Reached in 2020

Legal:-May 7: The 13th Court of Appeals of Texas issued a unanimous ruling confirming Texas Central’s status as a Railroad under Texas Law

Regulatory:-May 21: US Army Corps of Engineers issued its preliminary designation affirming the FRA selected route as the Least Environmentally Damaging Proposed Alternative (LEDPA), agreeing with FRA on the chosen alignment- May 29: FRA released the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS)- July 17: Surface Transportation Board (STB) confirmed jurisdiction over the Texas Central project-September 11: FRA issued its Rule of Particular Applicability (RPA) and Record of Decision (ROD) establishing Federal safety standards under which Texas Central Railroad will operate the high-speed train and giving environmental clearance for the selected alignment from Dallas to Houston

Land:-Texas Central has control of over 600 parcels of land needed for the project-Texas Central has control of the three station sites in Dallas, Houston and the Brazos Valley

Jobs and Impact:-Texas Central is ready to build and will proceed to construction as soon as possible to contribute to the Nation’s COVID-19 recovery-This project will create more than 17,000 direct jobs during the six years of construction and over 20,000 supply chain jobs-This project will have over $10 billion dollars in immediate economic impact across the U.S. via contracts for steel mills and other manufacturers, minority and women owned businesses, veterans, rural businesses-The project will inject an estimated $36 billion in economic benefits over its first 25 years in the form of direct spending during construction, employee payroll and spending related to the maintenance and operation of the system. Click to read more at www.rland.com.