August 7, 2025 - TRA Newswire -

The Regional Transportation Council of the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) voted to send a letter to DC-legislators supporting high-speed rail that would connect the DFW region with greater Houston.

The support letter is to reach the North Texas Congressional Delegation and U.S. House leadership ahead of an August 20 deadline for comments on the next Surface Transportation Reauthorization bill, which comes up for renewal in 2026.

The letter was precipitated by language inserted into the draft appropriations bill by Congressman Jake Ellzey, who has long been associated with groups that oppose any development of high-speed rail in Texas.  

The Ellzey statement, inserted into Section 156, reads "none of the funds appropriated under this Act, or any Act, may be provided to the state of Texas for a high-speed rail corridor development project that is the same or substantially similar to Amtrak-Texas Central or Amtrak Texas High Speed Rail Corridor previously known as the Texas Central Railway project."

As of earlier this year, Amtrak no longer has any involvement in the Texas Central project, which is now being directed by private investor firm Kleinheinz Capital Partners in Fort Worth.

The Council was briefed on a recent Op-Ed in the Dallas Morning News from John Kleinheinz, principal in the investment firm that now leads all the activity around Texas Central.

In the article Kleinheinz stated that the project is shovel ready after ten years of planning, aligns with what the Trump administration is looking for in high-speed rail and that the project belongs in the hands of the private sector.  

Congressman Ellzey had previously announced that high-speed rail in Texas was dead, which prompted RTC member Dallas Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn, a critic of high-speed rail, to worry about political blowback over the letter. "If this body sends a letter opposing what one of our own Congressmen did, what do you think the political consequences are"?

Transportation Director Michael Morris replied "If our body has been trying to advocate for fifteen years high-speed rail between Dallas and Houston as a good thing, I don't think there will be formal consequences." 

Congress may look much more favorably on the project now that a private investor has taken the reins. 

NCTCOG transportation planning manager Brendon Wheeler reminded the Council that "this body executed a memorandum of understanding between Texas Central and the North Central Texas Council of Governments in 2016.... that both parties would support the development of a one-seat, one-ticket ride between Fort Worth, Arlington, Dallas and Houston through Texas Central's high-speed rail station."

The RTC was briefed on the continuing work in developing preliminary engineering and environmental clearance on the high-speed connector between Fort Worth, Arlington and Dallas.

The most contentious part of the alignment, the last-mile in Dallas, is being studied simultaneously on the existing Union Pacific right of way that passes Union Station and on a route closer to the Trinity River.

One of the two routes will ultimately be picked to connect to the Texas Central high-speed rail terminal near the Dallas Convention Center.    

On the Fort Worth side of the high-speed rail project, plans are moving along for location of an underground high-speed rail platform, about 100-150 feet underground adjacent to the Fort Worth Central Station that now serves two regional rail lines and Amtrak services. The high-speed station would be close to the the new Texas A&M campus, now under construction, and steps from the Fort Worth Convention Center. 

The U.S.D.O.T. invites the public to provide ideas, comments, and information for consideration in the development of the next surface transportation authorizing legislation.

You can issue your support for the high-speed rail project and against the Ellzey statement before August 20th through this link: