The planned and highly anticipated high speed railway running down the middle of Texas is in danger of shutting down. This is bad news, though not unexpected. Most of the management have quit. There is no start date for construction. The Texas Surpreme Court is dithering over a case that ought to have little merit.
I have had my doubts about Texas Central Railway for some time. They were going to build the whole thing, about $12 to 14 billion, with private money. I didn’t see where they ever raised more than a little over $100 million. And they had surprisingly strong opposition in the form of a large NIMBY movement. The Texas Supreme Court didn’t help by dragging its feet after refusing to hear a case brought by a rancher. Then changing their minds out of nowhere to hear the case. If the TSC rules in favor of the project then another entity may take control and work on completing it.
We will have to see about that. Ranchers, farmers, and railroads have squabbled since the 19th century. From the looks of things railroads usually won. So there should be all kinds of legal cases, and rulings to use. We will see.
For those of you who need to catch up. TCR was going to build a Very High Speed (185 to 200 MPH) Passenger Railroad between Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston Texas. They were going to take a 6 and 1/2 hour car ride and bring it down to 90 minutes. The 6 and 1/2 hour travel time in a car is on a good day. From personal experience, it can easily take 8 hours or more. The TCR will reduce carbon emissions by up to 83%. The TCR will create a large number of jobs and opportunities for new business growth. This is an important project. And very much like the kind of project we want here in Arkansas.
Here is an article on the Texas Rail Advocates website. This is an organization we might cooperate with. I met Peter LaCody at the Rail Passengers Meeting in March where we discussed an Interstate Passenger Rail Compact between Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.
NWA GO 
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