As reported in a recent article in the Dallas Morning News, a privately funded project for a high speed train gains traction. Texas Central Railway is a private group pushing forward with the project, which will connect the two major metropolitan cities of Dallas and Houston. These cities are about a six-hour drive from each other. Texas Central indicates the train would travel 205 miles per hour and could make that same journey in under 90 minutes. An estimated 50,000 business commuters travel to and from each of these cities more than once per week, which would presumably be the main target audience for this project.
The project is currently being reviewed by federal and state environmental committees and is being steered towards the 2017 legislative session. Texas Central Railway has already determined a preferred route. However, the train’s course would require the purchase of rural land between the two cities. The group anticipates a good deal of resistance to the purchase of the rural land needed. They claim to strive to minimize landowner impacts for the project. In order to fully construct the train line and acquire the necessary land, they may have to resort to eminent domain, which is the power to take private property for public use.
A state proponent to the project indicated the “win-win” of the endeavor since private funds would benefit the public. However, the private property owners that will be directly affected by the train would probably disagree.
The group, Texas Central Railway, reports on their site numerous benefits to the project. They include a potential 10,000 jobs and $10 billion economic output during the construction. Ongoing, they anticipate 750 jobs and $120 million annually during the operation once they train is underway.
I feel that public transportation is one of those pills that can be hard to swallow, no matter the need. We are a state that is notorious for building and improving roads in a reactive mode instead of being proactive. Texas is a growing state that is not getting any smaller. Our highway systems simply cannot keep up.
Having a high-speed train connecting Houston and Dallas, and presumably future connections to Austin or San Antonio and beyond, would certainly help draw even more businesses to Texas. Businesses could rely on being where they need to be in person with less time and money to expend on travel, including airfare, hotel or gasoline.
Additionally, I think we can look at Japan's bullet train or Europe’s example of a successful train system that helps commuters, both business and leisure, get from one place to another in an efficient manner. For example, on an existing train system in Europe, you can travel from London to Paris in just over two hours. That same trip would take approximately six hours to drive.
I can foresee a future that would include high-speed travel to many major cities in Texas and beyond. Can you imagine one day getting on a train in Austin and being able to be in New Orleans in three hours? Of course, airlines would still be the primary choice for long-distance travel. High-speed rail certainly deserves an opportunity to succeed with shorter commutes. And this is an excellent opportunity for Texas to show the rest of the US how it can be done successfully.
1 comment:
When I initially read your post, I was completely on board. After all, the ayou makes several very good points in regards to the potential the project has to boost Texas’ economy with an estimated “$10 billion economic output during the construction,” and an ongoing “750 jobs and $120 million annually during the operation once they train is underway.” These numbers are huge and difficult to ignore, but I feel that we need to be looking at more than just the money.
The part of all of this that gives me pause is the paragraph about people who own property on the proposed route of the speed train and the use of eminent domain. I, myself, own no property so perhaps it is impossible for me to truly identify with these people, but the “eminent domain” part of that is fairly ominous to me. As I did a little further research on what, exactly, that phrase means in Texas, I encountered a lot of confusing legal jargon. One other blog, the Texas Agriculture Law Blog, has a great post clarifying exactly what it means and what the steps on eminent domain are. The author of that blog states “there are three elements of eminent domain under Texas law: (1) The actor must be the state or a private entity authorized to condemn; (2) the property must be taken for public use; and (3) the landowner must receive adequate compensation for the condemned property.”
The FAQ portion of Dawson & Sodd, LLP goes on to say generally considered to be the difference between the market value of the property before and after the taking, considering the property and rights taken and any damages to remaining land not taken. “Market value” is the price a willing buyer would pay to a willing seller. Adequate compensation for lost property or damages to remaining land after the taking is influenced by the type of “taking” that occurs. When an entire property is condemned, the landowner is entitled to receive the market value for the entire property. But if only a portion of the property is condemned, the landowner is compensated for the difference between (1) the market value of the whole property before the taking and (2) the market value of the remaining property after the taking. This allows the landowner to be compensated for both the value of the property and rights taken and also any damage to the value of the landowner’s remaining property after the taking.
I feel that the land owners should be offered the market value of their land or piece of land, plus some additional incentive or annual interest. These people aren’t standing up and saying “hm, I think I want to move. Now I need to list the house.” The government is coming in and saying “hey, dude, out of my way. I’ll take this. Here’s a check for what it’s worth. Don’t worry about the associated pains of packing, finding a new home and moving, nor the memories you have tied to this land. We will just take it off your hands and probably bulldoze it for you.” That just doesn’t sit quite right with me.
In short, I am on-board with the speed train, but I believe that we need to take better care of the people who are losing their land to accommodate this dream.
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