Texas lawmakers didn’t stop fast trains this year
June 8th, 2017
June 8, 2017 - San Antonio Express-News - Bruce Selcraig, Staff Writer -
In February, a group of largely rural Republican state lawmakers, allied in their loathing of a privately funded, high-speed rail proposal that might one day zoom passengers between Houston and Dallas, filed 18 bills in the House and Senate to stop the train in its tracks.
They called the Texas Central Railroad, or TCR, a financial boondoggle destined to scar the countryside. They predicted that Texas taxpayers ultimately would have to bail out the fledgling railroad. Some even said the Japanese-led group was not, legally, a railroad and so could not use the rapacious power of eminent domain to acquire property for its route.
“This group of foreign investors is threatening to seize family farms (and) physically divide the state of Texas,” said Rep. Leighton Schubert, R-Caldwell, echoing nine of his colleagues.
But when the legislative session ended last week, only two of the anti-rail bills had passed, and TCR officials said their effects would be mainly benign.
Read more: http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Texas-lawmakers-didn-t-stop-fast-trains-this-11202560.php
In February, a group of largely rural Republican state lawmakers, allied in their loathing of a privately funded, high-speed rail proposal that might one day zoom passengers between Houston and Dallas, filed 18 bills in the House and Senate to stop the train in its tracks.
They called the Texas Central Railroad, or TCR, a financial boondoggle destined to scar the countryside. They predicted that Texas taxpayers ultimately would have to bail out the fledgling railroad. Some even said the Japanese-led group was not, legally, a railroad and so could not use the rapacious power of eminent domain to acquire property for its route.
“This group of foreign investors is threatening to seize family farms (and) physically divide the state of Texas,” said Rep. Leighton Schubert, R-Caldwell, echoing nine of his colleagues.
But when the legislative session ended last week, only two of the anti-rail bills had passed, and TCR officials said their effects would be mainly benign.
Read more: http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Texas-lawmakers-didn-t-stop-fast-trains-this-11202560.php