May 22, 2026 - TRA Newswire -

Not having enough to do trying to derail a high-speed rail line between Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, a Texas-based anti-rail group has taken aim at a public-private rail partnership out West that covers two states.

ReRoute the Route, comprised of a group of farmers, ranchers and businesses that oppose the Texas Central project between the two mega-cities, is urging the U.S. Department of Transportation to reject a $6 billion federal railway loan for the Brightline West high-speed rail project between Las Vegas Nevada and the Los Angeles-area. 

If the western high-speed rail project gets federal loan approval for a portion of its total cost, this could open the door for Texas to have its first bullet train line. 

ReRoute the Route's Texas lobbyist in Washington D.C., Trilogy Advisors LLC, said they have "policy concerns" about the western high-speed line while also knocking the ability of the Texas high-speed line to be successful.

Trilogy Advisor's John Sitilides said "the concern my clients have is that if the administration approves a $6 billion Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing Program (RRIF) loan for Brightline West, it would set a precedent for a potential RRIF or other type of loan or grant or credit assistance for the Texas high speed rail project." 

In a letter to Morteza Farajian, the executive director of the Build America Bureau, the anti-rail group urged the agency to reject a loan for projects like Brightline West and Texas Central. They claim the projects do not meet the bureau's investment-grade credit qualifications and repayment tests.

DesertXpress Enterprises LLC, Also know as Brightline West, applied for the $6 billion federal loan in September 2025 and is expected to hear a final decision this year. The railroad company is also relying on a $4 billion senior loan from banking groups, conditional on the acceptance of the RRIF loan. Total project cost is set at $21.5 billion. 

At speeds up to 200 miles per hour, Brightline West indicates that trains will take passengers from Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga in approximately 2 hours, twice as fast as the normal drive time. Weekend traffic on Interstate 15 can push the drive time up several additional hours. The Southern California Station will connect to the regional Metrolink service, allowing for seamless connectivity into downtown Los Angeles and beyond. 

At a Build America Bureau event in April, David Fink who heads the Federal Railroad Administration, had positive remarks about the high-speed rail project, which would be an all-electric high-speed line to link the heavily traveled Vegas-LA corridor.

The letter to the Build America Bureau stated "No other RRIF loan has ever exceeded $1 billion, yet Brightline is requesting a $6 billion high-risk loan for a project not yet under construction that is years away from a hoped-for completion. This RRIF loan request makes clear that the project, if built, can only move forward with monies largely from taxpayers and tax-exempt bonds. This is not a private project, but instead a hybrid one whose costs are increasingly socialized, even as Brightline hopes to completely capture all profits if the project is ever completed," according to the letter.

Fortress Investment Group, which heads up DesertXpress/Brightline West, also operates the Brightline franchise that operates higher speed trains between Miami and Orlando. Brightline Florida is currently looking at options to restructure its debt.

Reroute the Route is similar to Texans Against High-Speed Rail (TAHSR), another rural coalition that has challenged the Texas high-speed rail project in court. TAHSR formed a "Land Defense Fund" to pool resources and fund legal fights for landowners. 

Fort Worth-based investment banker John Kleinheinz took over the Dallas-to-Houston high-speed rail project as lead sponsor through his firm, Kleinheinz Capital Partners, buying out the original Japanese investors in early 2025. The $30+ billion Texas Central project expects to connect Dallas and Houston in less than 90 minutes using Japanese Shinkansen bullet trains. A high-speed rail extension between Dallas and Fort Worth is being planned by the North Central Texas Council of Governments. 

Photo credit: Brightline West