Still hope for Houston-Galveston passenger rail

But likely a decade away

Matt Dietrichson, Aug 01, 12.

A passenger rail line running between Houston and Galveston was postponed in 2009 due to the recession. The project is looking more feasible these days, according to The Houston Chronicle:

The original plan called for a passenger line carrying 1,000 to 2,000 people per day to be in operation as early as this year, but a series of events starting with Hurricane Ike and the stock market crash in 2008 stalled the project.

“The impact of the economic downturn has taken its toll in so many ways,” said Barry Goodman, whose consulting firm, Goodman Corp., is doing the planning. Goodman said the recession affected the rail project more than the storm.

Price tag balloons

The price tag had risen from an estimated $415 million in 2007 to $650 million, and local governments were unable to provide the 40 to 50 percent contribution typical for such projects, Goodman said.

Enthusiasm remains high for the plan among officials and residents in Galveston County’s 13 cities, so Goodman Corp. is redrawing the plans to accommodate the new financial reality, said John Carrara, senior vice president.

The revamped plan calls for starting more modestly with expanded park-and-ride and express bus services in the Houston-Galveston corridor.

The more measured approach could provide immediate benefits, said Alan Clark, transportation planning director for the Houston-Galveston Area Council.

The council, which coordinates planning for local governments in the region, will consider making the Goodman Corp. plan part of the regional transportation plan, Clark said.

The first phase was completed this year with the opening of bus service, operated by local governments, from Galveston to a park-and-ride lot at the University of Texas Medical Branch’s clinic in League City on Interstate 45, Carrara said. One of several other routes could be running by 2014 and another could be added each year, he said.

Details are being worked out for an express bus from Galveston to downtown Houston and another route to downtown Houston that would stop in Dickinson, Texas City and La Marque, he said.

Other routes?

Another route would begin in Dickinson and stop in La Marque and Texas City on the way to Galveston. A local route on Texas 3 would link Webster and La Marque.

The plan also calls for additional park-and-ride lots, including one in League City between Texas 3 and the Union Pacific Railroad.

When and if the rail line is built, the bus routes and park-and-ride lots would be modified to serve it, Carrara said.

The passenger rail plans remain much the same, he said, although the original plan to use only the existing Union Pacific track has been abandoned. An additional track would be laid to allow for two-way traffic, he said.