Amtrak gets $64M in federal funds for high speed rail between Dallas and Houston

The work on the Texas rail corridor continues to advance slowly, despite pushback.

The high-speed train planned between Houston and Dallas is “speeding ahead” with news of a $64 million grant to connect the two Texas cities. den-belitsky/Getty Images/iStockphoto

By Janet Miranda,
Trending News Reporter
Sep 3, 2024

The much anticipated Texas high-speed rail corridor that promises to connect two major cities continues to advance slowly. The project has now received $63.9 million from the Federal Railroad Administration to establish a route from Dallas to Houston.

The funds were part of a huge $153 million funding rollout by the U.S. Department of Transportation and given to Amtrak, the nation’s leading passenger train operator. The funding will assist with operating costs and help advance a project that has been moving forward in fits and starts for the last decade. The proposed route would connect two major Texas metros in about 90 minutes and run along 10 different counties.

The proposed 240-mile route has been in the works for years, with private company Texas Central Railway first taking over the project by purchasing land throughout the planned corridor, but it never went into construction. However, Amtrak has subsequently taken over the project, and federal subsidies have started rolling in. In December 2023, an initial $500,000 investment relaunched the project’s planning and development program. The project is now in its third step and receiving further funding to pay expenses.

During the Southwestern Regional Rail Conference, Amtrak’s Senior Vice President, Andy Byford, said that the rail line’s construction could start in the “early 2030s,” according to a KERA News report.

“This is very much a project that Amtrak is now leading,” Byford said, as reported by KERA News. “I have to make sure that in any recommendation I give to my CEO and my board, that is a project that is worthwhile pursuing. And right now, having looked at the revenue forecasts and done our due diligence to date, I still think that is the case. That again, though, does not mean that it’s a done deal.”

John Sitilides, a federal affairs advisor to ReRoute the Route, a Houston business and civic coalition opposed to the high speed rail told Chron that the project was a waste of taxpayer money.

“The federal budget deficit approaches $2 trillion, our national debt exceeds $35 trillion, and the White House is wasting scarce federal taxpayer dollars on this controversial, failing, insolvent and foolish $40 billion Amtrak pork project, second only to California’s $130 billion monstrosity, while bailing out the Japanese government’s $340 million investment loss and possible foreign agent violations at the expense of thousands of Texas citizens and property owners whose farms, ranches, and private property rights are doomed to Amtrak’s eminent domain condemnations,” Sitilides said.

The proposed route currently has only 30 percent of the land needed secured. Experts estimate the total cost of the line could reach $30 billion and would need broad political support and a mix of private and public funding. Despite opposition from rural property owners along the route, Amtrak officials view it as one of the most viable high-speed railways in the U.S. due to the large populations of the two cities and the relatively flat topography between them.