Texas Central Railway picks utility corridor as preferred route for high-speed rail line

Texas Central Railway recommended on Feb. 17 to the Federal Railroad Administration a utility corridor near Hwy. 290 as the sole option for a proposed high-speed rail route from Houston to Dallas, opting against a route along I-45 that could have directly served The Woodlands. In February the FRA selected from a list of nine routes two corridors for high-speed rail. Those routes included the utility corridor and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe route near Hwy. 249 and along I-45. TCR's final corridor recommendation comes after an estimated 800 Montgomery County officials and residents gathered Feb. 2 in Montgomery to speak out against the proposed construction of high-speed rail in Texas and specifically the BNSF route. TCR said the utility corridor is the best option economically as well for reliability and safety. TCR is expected to move forward with investigating alternative paths along the utility corridor to accommodate potential conflicts with homes and businesses and submit additional information to the FRA for further analysis during the environmental review process. "We selected the utility corridor as the best alternative because it satisfies the goals of the project to provide safe, reliable and economically viable high-speed rail service between Houston and Dallas," said David Hagy, executive director for community outreach for TCR. "The utility corridor will also reduce the project's impact on communities and landowners by following existing rights of way as much as possible." However, despite TCR's decision to pursue the Hwy. 290 utility corridor as the preferred route, some local officials are still hoping an I-45 rail route could eventually be settled on. In November, The Woodlands Township asked the Texas Department of Transportation in a letter to consider a corridor along I-45 as a possibility for the rail line. The township argued that the expanding population of Montgomery County warranted the inclusion of the I-45 corridor in an environmental impact study, or EIS, for a possible route. "The existing and projected population growth along the I-45 corridor from the Montgomery–Harris County border north to the Huntsville area will be more than a significant contributor to population growth in the region," township board Chairman Bruce Tough said. "In Montgomery County alone, the population is projected to increase from 500,000 to 1.1 million by 2040. This fact argues for inclusion of the I-45 corridor in the [EIS] evaluation." However, FRA officials said the I-45 route did not compare favorably to other available options. "The I-45 corridor we looked at closely and gave it full consideration, but compared to the others it did not score as well," FRA EIS Lead James Maughan said. According to TCR the final route is not finally determined until the EIS is complete. A study draft will be ready by the end of 2015. The EIS process helps determine station locations and examines the overall cost of the high-speed rail project, said Vice President of Environmental and Engineering for TCR Shaun McCabe. According to TCR, officials plan to recommend the FRA consider the inclusion of an alternative path along the I-10 corridor to reach a possible station in downtown Houston. TCR is expected to work with the city of Houston officials to evaluate the exact logistics of the potential route in the near future. Rail dissent State Rep. Will Metcalf, R-Conroe, said he is opposed to high-speed rail in Texas. "We need more roads for citizens to travel to ease our existing roadways," he said. "We do not need a high-speed railway in Texas that will only benefit a few while at the same time disturbing thousands of citizens within its path." The proposed high-speed rail will travel from Houston to Dallas in 90 minutes. The rail will use N700-I Bullet Tokaido Shinkansen technology, which has a record of zero passenger injuries and has been used in Japan for more than 50 years, according to TCR. Tickets for riding the train will be comparable to airline prices.