Jim Mathews, president and CEO of the Rail Passengers Association (RPA), recently sent a letter to Juan D. Reyes, III, Federal Railroad Administration acting deputy administrator, to voice support for Texas Central Railway’s (TCR) Houston–Dallas high-speed rail corridor project.
The train project will provide a 200 mile per hour, 90-minute route between Dallas and Houston. The trip currently takes four hours via Interstate-45, a trip approximately 50,000 Texans take at least once a week.
It is estimated this drive-time will increase to 6.5 hours by 2035 and Texas’ population will double by 2050.
“TCR’s Houston–Dallas rail service will also close a significant gap in the regional rail network, directly connecting Oklahoma City to Houston via Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer, and Dallas to New Orleans via Amtrak’s Sunset Limited, providing greater connectivity throughout the south-central U.S. while linking cities that play a vital role in domestic energy production,” Mathews said.
RPA supports the proposed Houston station at the Northwest Mall site but says it needs to connect to the city’s business centers.
The transit connections between the station and downtown must stop at the Amtrak station on Washington Avenue, Mathews said, allowing rail passengers from other states to take advantage of the rail project.