TxDOT holding rail visioning workshops

Houston meeting: May 17

Steve Hawley, May 05, 10.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is holding a series of rail visioning workshops across the state, including a May 17 meeting in Houston, according to TxDOT and Texas Rail Advocates.

Texas Rail Advocates notes:

The Texas Rail Plan is also being developed in coordination with other TxDOT planing efforts now underway, including a long range transportation plan and a TxDOT Strategic Plan. The Texas Rail Plan is led by the new TxDOT Rail Division and it’s Director Bill Glavin.

The agency says that the state Rail Plan will “guide future actions by the public and private sectors to expand mobility of people and goods on rail, and meet federal and state legislative requirements.”

The agency will host seven meetings across the state between May 6 and May 21. The Houston meeting will take place on Monday, May 17 from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm at the TxDOT Houston District Auditorium at 7600 Washington Avenue (map). Participants are asked to RSVP to Stacy Cook at 301-347-9122 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Other meetings will be held in El Paso, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Lubbock, Longview, and Austin.

Texas has been heavily criticized for its lack of a rail vision, most recently by the federal government. The US Department of Transportation recently awarded $8 billion in high-speed rail funds to projects across the country, but Texas, which had applied for $1.9 billion, received just $4 million. The money will be used to improve signal timing at rail crossings between Austin and Fort Worth, which will increase the speed of the Texas Eagle rail service.

In January, shortly before the awards were announced, Karen Rae, deputy commissioner for the Federal Railroad Administration, said, “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 Dallas Morning News editorial board said, “Texas got the scraps, and deservedly so.”

The state, which tried unsuccessfully to implement high-speed rail service 20 years ago, is now making a new push to include rail in its transportation plans, and TxDOT formed its Rail Division last year. “That was the single most important thing to happen in Texas in decades,” said Peter LeCody, president of Texas Rail Advocated.

“Rail is going to be an important part of the solution,” said Deidre Delisi, who chairs the Texas Transportation Commission that governs TxDOT. “For many many years, really since the creation of the Texas Department of Transportation, roads were seen as the only solution and we’re learning very quickly that ... we need to be thinking more of a multi-modal approach.”