Between the I-35 expansion, MoPac construction, and the general growing pains of the metroplex beyond its transportation infrastructure’s capacity, Travis County Judge Andy Brown has long advocated for the need for commuter rail between Austin and San Antonio. On Tuesday, the Travis County Commissioners Court took its first step towards making that a reality, approving almost $125,000 to go toward a feasibility study on how the line might be built.
Since 2009, Texas Central has been planning a high-speed rail route between Dallas and Houston, bringing on Amtrak to help in 2023. San Antonio, Travis and Bexar counties, and even an elected official from Nuevo Leon, Mexico have expressed unified support for connecting Austin and San Antonio to that line They urged the state legislature to help last year by matching at least some of the $63.9 million in federal funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
But the Trump administration removed those federal dollars in April. Though Texas Central has expressed confidence in its private sector funding, it has only acquired about a quarter of the land necessary to build the route so far. With an estimated cost of the project of about $40 billion, any public dollars would help.
Part of the extraordinary cost is land acquisition, something that has been a roadblock to the project of high-speed rail in Texas. Before Amtrak came on board, the Texas Central project was scrapped because of an eminent domain dispute in 2022. This new study would explore using right-of-way along state highways, bypassing the need for buying as much land.
“If we can squeeze a passenger rail route in the right-of-way, that does not involve taking a lot of private land,” said Brown in the meeting Tuesday. “I think that makes the possibility of getting rail between Austin… down to Bexar County, much more realistic and potentially much quicker.” Brown projected a timeline a little more than two years: “If we get on it quickly, we could build it before I-35 construction is finished.”
The study will be completed in March 2026, just four months before a parallel study for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). TxDOT’s study is focused on building a route along the I-35 corridor, estimating costs, travel demand and engineering design. Travis County’s study would focus on a route that would connect the existing Amtrak station in San Antonio to Austin. That route would run from Downtown Austin out Highway 71 to SH 130, and end on I-10.
If the project is found to be feasible, the next step will be securing funding partners such as Bexar County and deciding if TxDOT, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, or another entity will operate it. Brown — and the Lone Star Rail District before him — had been in talks with Union Pacific to take it on, as they already own and operate the freight rail between Austin and San Antonio, but they dropped out in 2016. Beyond finding an operator, “I think we hit up the federal government for the construction part,” said Brown. “That’s the general sort of hope.”
“Every time we talk about passenger rail between Austin and San Antonio, people are just ecstatic about the prospect, because nobody likes being stuck on I-35, and it’s going to get worse with all the construction,” said Commissioner Brigid Shea.
“As we look at the way that Austin and San Antonio are emerging as a metroplex,” said Commissioner Jeff Travillion, “particularly when you have projects like I-35, any public transit options that we create will be very valuable.”
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