November 25, 2024 - TRA Newswire -

Right on the heels of Texas Representative John Bucy III's pre-filed bill that would bring high-speed rail to the I-35 travel corridor, State Senator Sarah Eckhardt (D) Austin,  filed Senate Bill 424 as a companion bill on the other side of the capitol building.

Eckhardt, a former Travis County Judge, serves on the Senate Transportation Committee. Her accompanying bill, if passed, would let the Texas Department of Transportation "enter into a Comprehensive Development Agreement with a private entity to construct, maintain, and operate high-speed rail connecting Dallas to Austin to San Antonio along the Interstate Highway 35 corridor."

High-speed rail is defined as an intercity passenger rail service capable of speeds of 110 miles per hour or more. That would make travel time between cities on the I-35 corridor highly competitive with highway journeys. 

Representative Bucy and Senator Eckhardt are not alone in favor of intercity passenger rail service on the I-35 corridor. The Texas Passenger Rail Advisory Committee, headed by Travis County Judge Andy Brown and Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai, has drawn bipartisan support from elected and appointed officials and agencies up and down the corridor. 

Previous higher-level engineering and environmental work has already been completed on two fronts, the TxDOT Texas-Oklahoma Passenger Rail Study (TOPRS), and extensive analysis on the Austin-San Antonio rail corridor by the Lone Star Rail District. Both studies would have to have the dust shaken off the reports, but could be used to advance intercity passenger rail in the I-35 corridor. The 

The TOPRS study, completed with federal rail funding, showed how passenger rail could fit in the corridor through a Service Level Development Plan. 

The Texas Passenger Rail Advisory Committee (TPRAC) is now focused on petitioning lawmakers in the 2025 legislative session for a kickstart appropriation of $300 million to advance the corridor. Matching federal passenger rail funds could boost the project.