April 17, 2025 - TRA Newswire -

The effort to finally have high-speed train service in Texas got a shot in the arm today at the Capitol in Austin. Testimony from the organization reworking the finances of the bullet train project said that if everything falls into place, Dallas-Houston service could be running seven years from now, potentially in 2032.

Kleinheinz Capital Partners investment advisor Andy Jent appeared before the Texas House Transportation Committee to answer questions on the state of the Texas Central high-speed rail project. 

Since inception, the bullet train effort has gone from a private venture that started in 2009, then shifted to the public-face of Amtrak after planning stopped during the pandemic, and is now in process of being steered back into a privately financed concern by a Fort Worth investment group.

When House Transportation Committee member Representative Mitch Little asked Jent if he still believes the project is alive, the response was "of course". 

Representative Dennis Paul asked if the project has some sort of a master plan. Jent replied "If we said go, and we're not prepared to say go, we think it would take six months to complete the finalization of the planning effort. That would involve relooking at roads, utilities, all the disruption that would take place over the 240 mile segment." 

During the six month period the Kleinheinz organization would be working on the financing and the application for the Surface Transportation Board final permit, according to Jent.

"We would anticipate we could get that done by the end of this year," said Jent. "If all of that is approved  the build schedule, we think, would take between 80 and 86 months." 

House Transportation Chair Tom Craddick issued a subpoena for records at the April 3rd committee meeting, after members were not satisfied with responses from Jent, especially dealing with financing of the high-speed rail effort.

Today, the investment advisor said that Kleinheinz Investment Partners is working on the financing of the project. He said that a balance sheet will be produced during this quarter.

The investment house is said to be in process of restructuring the initial debt incurred, working on transfer of ownership and completing a Fresh Start Accounting Perspective by the end of June. That would allow the company to re-state its assets and liabilities at fair value as of the emergence date, creating a fresh start for the newly reorganized entity.

The subpoena for company records revolves around House Bill 2003, filed by rural Representative Cody Harris, which would require a private high-speed railroad company to open its books to the public. "What I'm concerned about with this particular bill is it's asking for information that is early in the process", said Jent."This bill is appropriate when you are under construction, when you are reporting or when you are utilizing eminent domain or when you've got the financing", according to Jent. "If you're in the development stage of something, producing things can be taken out of context."

Jent said said that the company's interpretation of an announcement from the U.S. Department of Transportation this week is that they don't want Amtrak leading the project. "Amtrak's federalization of the project comes with a lot of red tape on the procurement side", according to Jent.

Amtrak issued a Request for Proposals earlier this year and, because of the federal process, they would be required to rebid all of the work, which would slow down progress made to date. 

"We anticipate meeting with the Department of Transportation shortly and we will get a better view as to this project,' said Jent.