February 27, 2025 - TRA Newswire - (Updated with Amtrak comment) -

There is movement in the process to bring high-speed rail service to the Lone Star state so Texans can travel between Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston.

Amtrak just announced a "Texas Two-Step" invitation to find the best value partner to carry the project forward.

Amtrak issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) and is actively seeking a delivery partner for the Texas High Speed Rail (HSR) Project. The RFQ, issued February 25th, invites prospective companies, joint ventures, contractors and subcontractors to submit their qualifications so that Amtrak can whittle the entries down to a shortlist.

That short list would then lead to project management finalists submitting their best price estimate in a Request For Proposal (RFP) for the high-speed rail project.  

Amtrak issued a brief statement: “Amtrak is working to confirm the viability of the concept of a dedicated high-speed rail route between Dallas and Houston.  As part of these efforts, we are seeking to identify the interest of potential partners through responses to this Request for Qualifications process.”

Once the two steps are completed, what exactly would this chosen "delivery partner" do? 

According to the invitation, "The Delivery Partner will provide advice, leadership, and support to Amtrak to allow Amtrak to successfully deliver the Program, and will undertake, direct, and coordinate a broad range of program management, design management, construction management, quality management, third party and stakeholder coordination, procurement, commercial strategy, field representation, and monitoring services (collectively, the “Services”)." 

According to the published document, "the Delivery Partner would be a source of sound professional design and construction expertise and judgement to Amtrak. Performance of all Services would be subject to the direction of Amtrak’s Contracting Officer/Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative. Amtrak seeks a Delivery Partner that is aware of and willing to enter into incentive/disincentive compensation structures to ensure the Project is delivered in the most innovative and cost-efficient manner", according to the project listing.

At last year's Southwestern Rail Conference, Amtrak's Senior Vice President for High-Speed Rail, Andy Byford, announced that the passenger railroad would be evaluating the Dallas to Houston bullet train project. The concept had been under development for over 10 years by Texas Central Partners. 

Amtrak was awarded a $64 million planning grant from the Federal Railroad Administration last September and has taken charge of the project. When completed, trains would traverse the 240-mile line at speeds up to 200 miles per hour. A trip by train between Dallas and Houston would take about 90 minutes compared to four hours or more by car.  

The invitation for interested parties can be found on Amtrak’s Ariba on Demand website. To gain access to the Amtrak Ariba Sourcing Event, including access to the solicitation documents, updates and notifications related to the RFQ, and to submit an SOQ, any interested vendor, including those who have previously participated in Amtrak procurements, must contact Ryan Kelly via email at Ryan.Kelly.1@amtrak.com with the following information: name of firm, name of single point-of-contact, address, phone number, and email address, according to the Amtrak release. 

Amtrak indicated that their goal is to "protect the integrity, competitiveness, and fairness of this procurement process and avoid any circumstances where a potential Proposer obtains, or appears to obtain, an unfair competitive advantage or conflict of Interest. The Amtrak conflict of interest requirements are set forth at 2 CFR Part 200. Each Proposer, or any employee, agent, or subconsultant thereof, is responsible to determine if it has or may have a possible Conflict of Interest, or whose participation may give the appearance of a possible Conflict of Interest."

Photo credit: Texas Central