High-speed rail may benefit Dallas and Houston, but at Ellis County’s expense? Landowners fearful.
“Carma Sullivan’s farmland has been in her husband’s family for nearly six generations. Their business is a noble one, growing crops for meager profits, but their way of life is under threat because of the Dallas to Houston high-speed rail project.
The Sullivan family farm sits on about 1,000 acres at the edge of Ellis County, touching Navarro County. Sullivan and her family all live on the land, farming their own portion, but are worried that their farming days could end once the proposed high-speed rail cuts their farmland in half.
“We’re not just perfectly willing to give up our land we’ve had for generations,” Sullivan said. “The proposed track runs right through my brother-in-law’s house. This land has been in our family since right after the civil war, and I’m worried. I’m 67 years old, and I love what I do. I love my life and to see that whole legacy wiped out is more than I can bear.”
Texas Central Railway hopes to construct a high-speed rail line that would connect Dallas and Houston. The railroad boasts that they will use Japanese N700 Series Shinkansen electric trains to complete the 240-mile journey in around 90 minutes — a dramatic difference from a three or four-hour drive.
The company touts that the 200-mph train will consist of eight train cars with a 400 person seating capacity. The cars will run each way every 30 minutes during peak periods, and every hour for non-peak periods.
Along the route, Texas Central has proposed one stop outside of Texas A&M University but doesn’t plan to have any other stations outside of the Dallas/Houston metros.
Projects like the high-speed rail take years of planning because not only does Texas Central have to sort out the funding and means to construct the train and tracks, but first a study on the best route for the train to take — and the environmental impact of that course, — need to be completed. The Federal Railroad Administration released its Draft Environmental Impact Study in December and submitted the findings to the Federal Register.
“Texans are a step closer to the travel choice, safety and the jobs the bullet train will bring,” said Houston business executive Drayton McLane Jr., chairman of the board of directors for Texas Central, in a statement. “This is a significant moment in the train’s progress — not only for Texas’ bullet train but also for a state leading the way on infrastructure innovations.”
Currently, the project is now in the public hearing process — a 60-day public comment period that ends Feb. 22. The Federal Register instituted this period so that the public can provide their thoughts on the more than 5,000-page DEIS, and provide that information to the FRA and Texas Central.”
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Ditto, Tiffany. Waxahachie Daily Light 22 January 2017.