Texas T-Bone: It's Not a Steak

Mary Sit — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:40:00 GMT

Texas is ready for its T-Bone, and it's not a steak.

It's the corridor of a proposed high-speed rail that would connect Houston - via College Station - to Temple, with that branch linking to Dallas-Ft. Worth, Austin and San Antonio.

And Texas is standing in line - along with 39 other states - hoping for money from Uncle Sam to build that rail.

July 10 was the deadline to submit pre-applications for High-Speed and Inter-City Passenger Rail funds from the Federal Railroad Administration.

Competition is fierce. The states are asking for $102 billion in funding - far more that the $8 billion the Obama administration has set aside for high-speed rail in the Recovery and Reinvestment Act for this.

The Texas Department of Transportation is asking that $1.7 billion of the $1.9 billion it is seeking to receive be devoted to the Texas T-Bone.

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood says he's pleased at the flood of pre-applications.

"It shows that not only does this country want high-speed rail, but also that this country is ready for high-speed rail," he writes in his blog. "The overwhelming responses show that the planners who pre-applied for these grants are way ahead of where everyone thought they'd be in terms of their ability to conceive of and plan these rail lines."

Click here to read more in his blog.

Does Texas have a chance at these funds?

Not much preliminary work has been done yet on these bullet trains - such as environmental studies, feasibility reviews and right-of-way acquisition - but TxDot says it never hurts to ask, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Final applications are due Aug. 24.

Would you leave your car at home and travel on a 200-mile-per-hour train to get to Austin, San Antonio or Dallas? We'd like to hear your thoughts on high-speed rail.

Robert Eckels, former Harris County judge and chairman of the Texas High Speed Rail and Transportation Corp. proposed a high-speed rail linking Dallas-Fort Worth through Austin to San Antonio, branching off in Temple and going on to Houston.

Proponents this time have build a coalition that includes elected officials and two airlines, according to today's Houston Chronicle. The $12 billion to $18 billion project would be completed by 2020. High-speed trains would average 200 miles per hour.

Why would the proposal work this time when it failed about 15 years ago?

"In the past, high-speed rail was not completed in Texas primarily because it was a top-down model driven by lobbyists out of Austin," Eckels told the Chronicle.

This time, supporters have convinced former foes to jump on board. Southwest Airlines, which opposed the last high-speed rail project, now says the airline is neutral. The high-speed trains would connect to airports.

This public-private partnership is seeking state help, including tax exemptions for companies that construct the project. More than 70 percent of Texas residents live in the cities that would be connected by this high-speed rail.

High-speed rail - with trains that can run up to 125 miles per hour - exists in the Boston-New York-Washington, D.C. corridor with Amtrak's Acela Express. (pictured above). Worldwide, 16 other countries enjoy high-speed rail, including Taiwan, Russia, France and Finland.

Write On METRO : Texas T-Bone corridor

Texas T-Bone: It's Not a Steak