Texas High-Speed Rail Plan Calls for Eminent Domain

Updated September 20 to include a response from the North Central Texas Council of Governments.

Texas officials say they will use eminent domain to acquire land needed for the 240-mile high-speed rail line planned between Dallas and Houston, reports Hugh Cameron in Newsweek. The Texas Supreme Court ruled that the project’s builder had eminent domain authority in one Leon County case in 2022. 

According to a proposal presented to the Regional Transportation Council of the North Central Texas Council of Governments, the project requires the creation of a statewide high-speed rail authority. “This, they state, would require ‘provid[ing] counties and cities with expanded tools for land use control to preserve future transportation corridors and support land use, housing, school, and transportation connection policies that best serve growth needs.’” According to Texas Central, the train could remove up to 12,500 cars from Interstate 45 each day.

The project has gained momentum in recent months, with the federal government awarding Amtrak a $64 million grant for the line earlier this month, but its total estimated cost has gone up from $10 billion to over $33 billion as of a 2023 study.

In an email to Planetizen, a spokesperson for the North Central Texas Council of Governments clarified, “While the draft legislative proposal mentions eminent domain, it does so in the context of calling for continued support for the current statutory authority for local governments involved in the development of a freeway project, not high-speed rail. The goal is to retain local control of something that already exists.” The email also noted that the creation of a statewide high-speed rail authority is just one proposed avenue for moving the project forward.