STUDY SAYS TEXAS HIGHWAYS COULD ACCOMMODATE HIGH-SPEED RAIL
[Railway Track & Structures website report, 11-25-13]
A University of Texas Arlington feasibility study of high-speed rail in the state shows that trips between most city pairs using existing Texas DOT rights of way can be made in less than two hours, making it competitive with air travel and superior to highway driving.
Steve Mattingly, a civil engineer who conducted the case study, evaluated routes between Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio, San Antonio and Houston, and Houston and Waco. He also investigated a rail stop in Austin. The study also examined dedicated freight service in the designated corridors.
He found that each of the routes, which include interstates 20, 35 and 45, and Texas 6, could contain high-speed rail within existing rights of way, which would greatly reduce the capital cost of building the system.