June 15, 2022 - TRA Newswire -

DC-based Rail Passengers Association CEO Jim Mathews today urged the Texas Supreme Court to rule quickly and directly on legal challenges to Texas Central Railway's plans to link Dallas and Houston, saying that the Court's inexplicable delays in this case have imposed their own obstacles to the project's success.

"Under pressure from ceaseless and, frankly, baseless challenges to Texas Central's status as a railroad, the Texas Supreme Court re-opened what should have been a settled case early this year, effectively blocking a vital and beneficial project from moving forward," Mathews said. "Grandstanding by NIMBYs spreading misinformation and baffling legal delays are combining to scare off investors, drain cash reserves, and strangle Texas Central before it can even start. Every day's delay hamstrings this project further."

In a statement Mathews said that Rail Passengers continues to be dismayed to see this fight drag on given the degree to which Texas Central is trying to appease a small group of landowners. "Moreover, this fight risks billions of dollars of economic growth, tens of thousands of jobs, and the potential to stimulate new travel not just on Texas Central but even on our publicly funded Amtrak network", according to Mathews. "The use of an endless series of lawsuits to grind the approval process to a crawl is, ultimately, the same as giving veto power over all new development to anyone who can front the legal fees—and it’s why the U.S. isn’t able to build ambitious infrastructure anymore."

Photo credit: RailPassengers.org