High-speed rail gets a glimmer of hope with court decision

The Texas Supreme Court has given the go-ahead to a beleaguered plan to build a bullet train connecting Houston and Dallas, ruling that companies behind the project have the power to acquire private property through eminent domain.

In a 5-3 ruling, the high court said Texas Central Railroad and Integrated Texas Logistics could indeed be considered “interurban electric railway companies” under state law, even though they have yet to build a railroad and might never do so.

The decision caps off a yearslong legal battle launched by landowners along the bullet train’s route. One of them, Leon County rancher James Fredrick Miles, filed suit in 2016 after Texas Central sought to survey the roughly 600 acres he owns along its “preferred” route — land that would be bisected if the bullet train is built.

The case turned on what it means to be a “railroad company” or “interurban electric railway company,” which have eminent domain authority under the Texas Transportation Code.

Miles, along with other property owners, argued Texas Central didn’t qualify because it wasn’t operating a railroad and may never do so. Texas Central has yet to build any tracks or train stations, or acquire the Japanese Shinkansen rail cars called for in the project proposal.

The project’s proponents, however, argued this line of reasoning yielded a chickenand-egg problem that would make it impossible to ever build a rail line.

A trial court sided with Miles. A court of appeals in 2020 overturned that ruling, leading Miles to petition the Texas Supreme Court for review.

Friday’s decision affirms the appellate court’s ruling.

The Greater Houston Partnership, a business-financed economic development group, hailed the decision. “Faster, safer, and more reliable connections between our region and other parts of Texas are vital to our continued economic growth,” the group said in a statement.

But the bullet train’s future is unclear.

On June 14, Carlos Aguilar, who has served as CEO of Texas Cental since 2016, announced in a LinkedIn post that he would be leaving the company, writing, “I could not align our current stakeholders on a common vision for a path forward.”

Opponents of the rail line, including U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, interpreted Aguilar’s resignation as a sign the project was dead.

The Texas Supreme Court’s ruling implicitly acknowledged the controversy surrounding the project, and the likelihood it will persist — at least, if Texas Central does.

“The case involves the interpretation of statutes relating to eminent domain,” wrote Justice Debra H. Lehrmann. “It does not ask us to opine about whether high-speed rail between Houston and Dallas is a good idea or whether the benefits of the proposed rail service outweigh its detriments.”