A Texas state representative is hoping to develop a high-speed rail line along a major north to south highway running through the state.
Democrat John Bucy has proposed legislation that would allow the Texas department of transportation to join forces with a private company to build and maintain a high-speed rail line along the I-35 highway, connecting Dallas, Austin and San Antonio.
“Having high speed rail between connecting these major hubs of Texas, of Dallas and Austin and San Antonio, it should be a great option for Texans and for visitors and everyone alike,” Bucy, who has represented southern Williamson County in the Texas House of Representatives since January, 2019, told KERA News.
There are reportedly no specific plans mapped out for the route of the high-speed train through Texas, as Bucy’s legislation focuses on securing the funding needed for the project first.
One part of the legislation requests for “the use of state money for high-speed rail operated by a private entity and to the construction of certain high-speed rail,” starting from September 1, 2025.
Another bill proposed by Bucy asks for “the use of certain money transferred to and deposited in the state highway fund as required by the Texas Constitution,” but would come into effect two years after in September, 2027.
Bucy told KERA that since he’d filed the two bills on November 12, there has been an influx of support.
“The calls are non-stop, from constituents, from county commissioners, from elected officials that are just excited about this idea,” the outlet reported him saying.
Newsweek has contacted Bucy out of normal working hours via email for comment.
The council members’ high-speed rail route was proposed as going from Dallas to Houston.
Americans are overwhelmingly in support of high-speed rail, according to a Newsweeksurvey carried out earlier this year, although it remains a thorny issue in the Lone Star State.
People “think it costs too much. It’s a waste of taxpayer money,” William C. Vantuono, editor-in-chief of Railway Age, previously told Newsweek.
Kirbie Ferrell, a policy analyst for the Eno Center for Transportation and a native Texan also noted that a lot of Texans have responded to high-speed rail with concerns that their land and property will be infringed upon.
“Texas has this philosophy of private property, protecting your property, property that’s been in families for generations,” she said in an earlier interview with Newsweek. “I would say that’s the root of it. Texans protect their property.”