Texas missed out on early high speed train

Spain’s Train System Thrives

Kathryn Edwards, Jun 12, 11.

Today Spain is known around the world for its large fast speed train system, but few people know Texas was in talks for a similar system at the same time Spain began theirs, according to Miller-McCune. During the 1980s both Spain and Texas were investigating the opportunity to implement a train system to connect the major cities, a plan that faced opponents in each region.

Spain fought the opposition and completed the extensive project over the next 20 years and today the service is hugely popular. Texas on the other hand, had a tougher battle and by 1993 had dropped the plan, according to Miller-McCune:

What killed it was not just a lack of private investment but also Southwest Airlines, the Dallas-based carrier, which noticed a threat to its home turf and launched a “sweeping, aggressive public relations campaign throughout the state to discredit TGV and prevent the company from meeting its fundraising deadlines,” according to the Austinist website.

Southwest understood better than most high-speed rail critics just how well the trains could work. AVE has reduced Spanish highway traffic — even for cargo, by freeing up space on the older rail network — and it’s cut dramatically into domestic airline business. “The opening of the Barcelona-Madrid line [in 2008] marked the beginning of the end of the airlines’ dominance,” The Economist wrote in 2009. “Tellingly enough, Iberia [Airlines] is planning to cut domestic flights by 7% this year.”

The State of Texas is now engaged in planning for high speed rail connecting the major cities, although disputes over station location and priorities over which cities to connect are not resolved. Additionally, Central Japan Railways is pursuing a possible Houston-Dallas line funded privately.