Texas High-Speed Rail Awarded $63.9M Federal Grant

“Despite some naysayers saying that the high-speed rail project between Dallas and Houston is DOA and others trying their best to kill it, there is still slow but steady movement on this critical infrastructure project that would connect the two mega-cities in about 90 minutes,” according to an article from Texas Rail Advocates. Planetizen reported small movements forward in April when Amtrak took the lead on the project, as well as in May and July. Next, “In August the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) granted $63.9 million for Amtrak to continue planning and advancing the project that Texas Central Railway brought close to the construction stage,” according to the Texas Rail Advocates article.

Amtrak Senior Vice-President for High Speed Rail Andy Byford told the Texas Rail Advocates that the project has progressed to the third and final step of the FRA Corridor Identification Program and that, while it’s by no means a done deal, he’s pleased with the progress. The article discusses several of the obstacles the project has faced since the pandemic stopped work for nearly two years, including extensive criticism as outlined in this article from the Daily Caller, but assures readers that while the project may look like it’s in a holding pattern, “There is still a lot of behind the scenes work going on with Texas Central and some of the original investors and players are still active while Amtrak works toward bringing the project forward.”