“Our interest is to get high-speed rail implemented.”Īnd, he adds, “Whether it’s through a public-sector model or a private-sector model, we don’t care, quite frankly.” “We have no allegiance to this current entity,” Shelton says. There are at least one or two other private entities interested in pursuing work on the same corridor, Shelton says, though Eckels' group is furthest along. Shelton says his organization, which conducts regional transportation planning, is coordinating with both Eckels and TxDOT, particularly with analyzing potential ridership and providing data used to determine where stations might be located. Tom Shelton, senior program manager with the North Central Texas Council of Governments, says the state’s goal is to eventually secure environmental clearance for a high-speed rail route and then turn it over to a private-sector entity to design, build and operate. TxDOT Executive Director Phil Wilson has said his agency will “try to assist them as best we can, along with anybody else who can bring this same type of initiative to us.” Though Eckels' project would be privately funded, the federal government had already invested $15 million for the state Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to study a route between Houston and the Dallas/Fort-Worth region. A spokesman for TxDOT said the agency is in touch with Eckels’ group and sharing information with it. Eckels says his line will partner with area transit agencies, but his stations will need easy access to freeways. Both the Houston and Dallas areas have growing public transit systems, but neither is as extensive as those of major East Coast cities, where commuters can easily connect from trains to subways. One challenge Texas Central still needs to figure out is how passengers would get from their train stations to other locations. Harris County and Dallas County have more workers traveling long distances - known as “super-commuters" - than anywhere else in the country, according to a report published earlier this year.įrom a geographical standpoint, the area is also attractive, Eckels says, because it’s largely rural and flat. There's poised to be an increasing demand for connections between the region. The drive is just long enough to be tiring, and the flight is just short enough to make passengers question whether it's worth the hassle. Eckels says the airline - no longer just a regional carrier - won’t oppose the project, and unlike other private rail lines (such as a proposed high-speed rail line on the East Coast), this project wouldn't compete with an existing route.Īccording to Eckels, Texas is the perfect place for high-speed rail, and the distance between Houston and Dallas - which takes about four hours to travel by car - is “the sweet spot” for a bullet train. Eventually, the project fizzled, in part because of opposition from Texas-based Southwest Airlines. In the 1990s, the state had a high-speed rail authority and even chose a French company to deliver a line. “We’re not using the government as a backstop.”Įckels' endeavor isn't the first foray into high-speed rail in the state. “The key for us is to make sure our budget is right at the beginning,” he says. Unlike the state-run California project, which has seen its cost estimates fluctuate from $34 billion to $43 billion to $98.5 billion and now $68.4 billion, Texas Central will have to abide by its budget and as a private company, can't afford to have “moving targets,” Eckels says. He gained national attention for the way he and Harris County handled the influx of New Orleans-area residents seeking shelter from Hurricane Katrina.Įckels says Texas Central will need about $8 billion to $12 billion in investment - though that’s a rough estimate. That company runs bullet trains between Tokyo and Osaka.Įckels himself also comes with a good reputation. It’s directly affiliated with U.S.-Japan High-Speed Rail, a Washington, D.C.-based company founded by an American venture capital company and Japanese high-speed rail operator Central Japan Railway Co., which would supply the technology for the endeavor. Texas Central has some high-profile backers.
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