Feds add Houston to Texas

New high speed rail map

Steve Hawley, Feb 04, 10.

The Federal Railroad Administration has added the “Texas T-Bone” route to one of its national high-speed rail maps, although the route is still missing from the official high-speed rail corridors map. Previously, the agency did not show any maps linking Houston to the rest of Texas.

According to the map, the Texas T-Bone is part of the nation’s long-term high-speed rail plan, but there are no immediate plans to provide it with federal funding. Supporters hope to have the T-Bone in place by 2020, with trains running at 220 miles per hour between San Antonio, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Houston. An analysis by America 2050 indicates that a high-speed route connecting Houston to Dallas would be the most viable route in the country outside of the Northeast and California.

Texas applied for $1.9 billion in high-speed rail funds, but it was awarded just $4 million last week to improve rail crossings on the Texas Eagle line between Austin and Fort Worth.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood insisted that the awards were based on merit, not politics, a point disputed by Gov. Rick Perry. However, Streetsblog weighs in on the side of the Obama administration, noting that Perry and other state officials had expressed only lukewarm support for high-speed rail previously:

Given that Texas transport officials have acknowledged the weaknesses in their funding plan, which lacked the necessary environmental studies to move forward with a “T-bone” rail system linking Houston, Dallas-Ft. Worth, and San Antonio, one would think Perry’s administration might have kept its expectations low.

But any federal official looking to gauge Texas’ depth of commitment to building bullet trains wouldn’t have to look further than Perry himself. When asked for his stance on rail, the governor told the Dallas Morning News:

I am supportive of efforts to establish rail in Texas, but it would be premature to ask voters to set up a fund for high-speed rail before we even know whether it would work. ... We need to first determine if High Speed Rail is feasible and then take responsible steps for financing.

LaHood harshly criticized the state on Wednesday, according to the Houston Chronicle, saying, “If Texas had its act together, they would have gotten some high-speed rail money.” He continued, “Unless a state or region has its act together, with [local] money, with a good plan that connects things, they’re not going to be in the high-speed rail business.”

And last month, Karen Rae, deputy administrator for the Federal Railroad Administration, told an audience in Austin, “There has been no central vision, no common vision for rail in Texas. And that kind of vision, that kind of support from the political leadership, is critical to success in our program.”

The Chronicle reports:

Citing Florida as an example, LaHood said the Sunshine State presented a detailed plan for construction, a long-term business plan, a united front of Democratic and Republican lawmakers and a legislature and governor that authorized an expenditure of state tax money to ensure that the project was completed.

A Texas Department of Transportation spokesman said that the small amount of money the state received was “not a surprise,” while the Dallas Morning News editorial board opined, “Texas got the scraps, and deservedly so.”

If Texas “gets its act together,” as LaHood said, it could receive federal high-speed rail funds in the future. In December, Congress allocated another $2.5 billion to high-speed rail, and US Rep. James Oberstar has proposed a new transportation bill that would include $50 billion for high-speed rail over six years.

Interactive High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program map (includes Texas T-Bone)
High-Speed Rail Corridor map (does not include Texas T-Bone)
Texas High-Speed Rail and Transportation Corporation

Full list of federal high-speed rail funding awards
White House fact sheet: Ft. Worth area