Bullet train backers find Houston support
But skeptics wonder if project will add to flooding issues
Backers of a planned Houston-to-Dallas high-speed train found a friendlier audience Monday night in Houston, though critics continue to dog federal officials and the company proposing the service.
The meeting, a late add by the Federal Railroad Administration to solicit comments closer to the planned Texas Bullet Train’s Houston station, followed 10 others held in late January and early February along the 240mile proposed route. Public comments on the federal environmental report for the project are due Friday.
Texas Central Partners, the company seeking federal ap-
proval for the rail line, wants to use Japanese Shinkansen electric trains on elevated tracks, mostly along a utility easement between the two metro areas. Federal officials have estimated the line will cost $18 billion and take five years to build.
If federal officials certify the need for the project and approve its safety plan, the company said, it could begin construction in 2019 and begin service in 2024. That timeline is affected greatly by when federal approvals would occur, any legal challenges to the project that could arise from disputes related to land acquisition and Texas Central securing the funding from investors to proceed.
Though the project as planned is privately funded, Texas Central officials have not ruled out seeking federal loans aimed at spurring transportation projects.
As has been the case since the line was proposed four years ago, support emanates from the Houston and Dallas areas, where local officials say it will boost economic development and avoid crippling congestion between Houston and Dallas.
“This project provides us with an important solution to our transportation needs in the region and the state,” said Christina Lindsay, executive director of the American Council of Engineering Companies of Houston.
Opponents between the two regions are vehemently opposed, and have criticized numerous parts of the 5,600-page environmental report, including the estimates that 7.2 million people will ride the line annually. That figure, an average of 18,000 daily, is 10 times the 1,800 passengers who fly daily between the two metros.
Texas Central and supporters have said growth in Houston and Dallas will create more demand. Both metro areas are expected to have populations above 10 million by 2035.
Skeptics have also questioned whether the project will exacerbate flooding issues in northwest Harris County. Tom Benningfield, 60, said he does not believe officials when they say it won’t worsen flooding in his Cypress-area neighborhood.
“There’s nothing in there about flood protection close to (the Sam Houston Tollway),” Benningfield said. “It’s already causing problems, and now they want to add more barriers.”
The environmental process is intended to resolve some of those issues prior to design, supporters said, noting that many of the claims by opponents are either premature or not supported by the environmental report.
Repeatedly on Monday, supporters circled back to the need for additional travel options and the economic boom a rail line and Houston station could provide.
“Safe alternative transportation systems like the Texas high-speed rail project are needed to sustain our life quality,” said Jeff Collins, vice chairman of Transportation Advocacy Group Houston Region.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and other area mayors showed up to support the company, saying more options to automobile travel are needed. Tom Ramsey, mayor of Spring Valley Village, noted his grandparents 60 years ago taxed themselves despite economic hardship to support Texas efforts to create water reservoirs.
“Because they made sacrifices, my grandchildren have water to drink in 2018,” Ramsey said. “You have got to look more than 30 days down the path, you’ve got to look 30 years.”