Texas accepted a $15 million grant from the Federal High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program to fund the preliminary engineering and NEPA studies for the Dallas to Houston corridor.
This money was made available by Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida’s refusal of a combined $2.4 billion in high speed passenger rail funding.
Since the adoption of the Texas Rail Plan in November, 2010, Texas has shown it is serious about improving rail across the state. The Dallas to Houston line would connect the two largest metropolitan areas of the state, running parallel to I-45. Most of the right of way along that route is already in place.
A previous grant to study a line between Oklahoma City to Dallas was announced in 2010. The federal plan is to connect the country via a high speed passenger rail network by 2030.
Kind of amazing that we’re the beneficiaries of the crazy, shortsighted decisions made by other states’ wingnut governors, isn’t it? You can find the official mention of this in the June 30 agenda of the Texas Transportation Commission – scroll down to item 5, or see here for the minute order. We’re maybe three steps into this journey of a thousand miles now, but we’re at least moving in the right direction.