Members of Dallas City Council recently returned from a week-long trip to Japan, to learn from the country’s rail experts on how the state can develop a high-speed rail system of its own.
The visit was part of Dallas’ effort to explore high-speed rail as a solution for improving regional connectivity and cutting down on traffic congestion. Lessons learned from the trip could play a key role in implementing Texas’ proposed Dallas-to-Houston high-speed rail route, local outlet The Texan reported.
The rail line was proposed over a decade ago, but development has not yet started. The line was planned to be a 240-mile route, enabling passengers to get between the two major cities in less than 90 minutes.
Central Japan Railway is the company behind the country’s high-speed train Shinkansen, which was the world’s first commercial bullet train system, according to Train Spread.
The train, which connects most of Japan’s major cities, travels up to speeds of 320 miles per hour.
In Japan, Dallas Deputy Mayor Pro Tempore Adam Bazaldua and council members Omar Narvaez, Jesse Moreno, and Gay Donnell Willis, also met with the vice president of Amtrak, a national railroad company in the U.S. that is working with a company called Texas Central, on the project.
Andy Byford, who was nicknamed “Train Daddy” for his work on improving the New York subway system according to The New York Times, reportedly added that Amtrak would apply for the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail grant for the project.
Amtrak has recently received $64 million from the FRA for the project to “help guide intercity passenger rail development throughout the country,” The Texan reported.
In April of this year, Amtrak had reportedly estimated the project would cost more than $30 billion over the next year and a half, NBC News’ local outlet in Dallas-Fort Worth (NBC DFW) reported.
The high-speed rail project was first proposed in 2009 as a privately funded project, but since 2020, the project has instead been seeking federal funds.
Amtrak joined forces with the Dallas City Council to get the project moving in August last year.
In a statement shared on Amtrak’s website, Byford said, “If we are going to add more high-speed rail to this country, the Dallas to Houston Corridor is a compelling proposition and offers great potential.”
So far, Amtrak has had approval for a high-speed rail station in The Cedars, one of the stops which would be along the proposed Houston-to-Dallas bullet train line, NBC DFW reported.
Newsweek has contacted Amtrak, and the four Dallas City Council members involved via email out of normal working hours for comment.
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