Bullet train steams ahead

Calling a planned high-speed rail connection to Dallas “an idea whose time has come,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner signed an agreement Thursday with the bullet train’s backers that both sides said is the first of many steps to making the trip a reality.

“This is the starting point to begin the process of definitive agreements,” Turner said, underscoring that the agreement between Houston and Texas Central Partners lacks specifics but commits both to cooperate on a project both want built.

Before a formal signing ceremony at City Hall, the city and company said the memorandum of understanding commits both sides to share environmental surveys, utility analysis and engineering related

to the project and surrounding area. It also calls for them to work together to develop new transit and other travel options to and from the likely terminus of the bullet train line.

Tim Keith, president of Texas Central, said the broader city memorandum is “a road map for agreements that we’ll be working on in the coming months.”

10,000 jobs projected

The agreement builds on other deals the company has struck with local entities, including the Gulf Coast Rail District — which is planning commuter rail along Hempstead Highway — and Metropolitan Transit Authority, which plans to restructure transit service to the bullet train stop.

In the memorandum, Texas Central notes the likely end of its Houston-to-Dallas line will be south of U.S. 290, west of Loop 610 and north of Interstate 10. The exact site has long been suspected as the current location of Northwest Mall.

The train will run on its own tracks, separated from roads and elevated in most places in the Houston area.

Construction is expected to start late next year or early 2019, company officials said, and take between four and five years. The cost is expected to be at least $12 billion.

The cooperation between Houston and Texas Central is no surprise. City officials, notably Turner, have praised the project, with the mayor citing it among examples of his goal of reducing automobile dependency.

Texas Central also touts huge job gains for the Houston area.

Statewide, the company said the project will create 10,000 jobs annually for four years.

About 1,000 jobs will be permanent to operate and maintain the system.

One-third of the permanent jobs will be in the Houston area, according to the agreement.

Turner signed the memorandum on behalf of the city. The agreement does not require City Council approval, though future agreements that commit the city to specific actions would require council approval.

McLane weighs in

The city often uses the loosely framed agreements as a starting point for major economic development projects, said Andy Icken, chief development officer for the city. Discussions with the city on BBVA Compass Stadium began with a memorandum of understanding, he said.

Like many of those previous projects, the train project also enjoys broad support from local businesses and industry groups. A handful of local business leaders are investors and active participants in the project.

“It shows the benefit of big ideas,” said Houston businessman Drayton McLane Jr., a member of the Texas Central Partners board of directors.

McLane compared the train to other major public and private projects in Houston’s past that steered the region to economic success, such as the dredging of the Houston Ship Channel and development of the Texas Medical Center. He said a new big idea is needed not only for Houston, but for the future wealth of the nation.

“To think we have the largest economy in the world, and we have zero high-speed rail,” McLane said, rattling off lines in Russia and China, among others.

Despite enjoying robust support in Houston and Dallas — where Texas Central also has a memorandum with the city — the bullet train project has many detractors in rural areas it will cross. Many skeptics, including some in the Legislature, have said they doubt the company’s chances and do not want Texans placed in the position of bailing the company out financially.

Many have also said the private company should not, and in some cases does not, have a right to use eminent domain to acquire land.

A number of specifics of the project are also unresolved in the Houston area. Depending on the exact location of the train station, city officials and Metro expect it to radically increase current demand from travelers. That could require significant investment in widened roads and improved bus or rail service.

Metro ponders options

Asked if Texas Central will contribute to those public projects, Metro chairwoman Carrin Patman said “we hope so,” noting transit officials are assessing options beneficial to Texas Central and Houston bus and rail users.

“The (high-speed rail) won’t do any good if people can’t get where they are going,” Patman said.

Thursday’s announcement was the second this week in which Texas Central was celebrating its progress. The company on Monday said it had chosen Irving-based Fluor Enterprises and The Lane Construction Corporation, based in Connecticut, for further refinement and study of the proposed route.

Once cleared for construction following federal environmental approvals and the finalizing of the financing, the Fluor and Lane Construction would design and build the 240mile line, expected to run along U.S. 290 and mostly along a utility corridor through 11 counties between Houston and Dallas.

Keith said this week he expects a draft environmental report from the Federal Railroad Administration to be released later this year.