Travis County leaders are exploring new ways to connect Austin to San Antonio. On Tuesday, October 21, county commissioners approved a $124,953 study from HNTB, an engineering company, to look into a new commuter rail line along State Highway 130 and Interstate 10.

“We’re not going to be able to build our way using highways out of the connection problem that we have with San Antonio, and so this would allow another option,” Travis County Judge Andy Brown said. “I can’t think of any similar-sized, especially growing this fast, regions in the world that don’t have good passenger rail service in between them.”

In the Interstate 35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio, the current population is about 4.5 million, but it’s expected to grow 6 to 7 million by 2030. For years, Brown said he’s talked to Union Pacific about adding a passenger rail line along I-35 connecting the two cities.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is currently working on a study about adding a passenger line there. But with freight trains already on that line, he said it may be difficult to make the two of them work on the same line.

That’s why county leaders are now looking into this alternate route. It would be around 80-90 miles running from 71, down SH 130 and ending on I-10. Brown said he’s confident this route would be more feasible.

“That I believe would get us a lot of support at the Capitol, at TxDOT, and other places if we’re not trying to take private land to build this passenger rail line,” Brown said.

Once the feasibility study is completed, Brown said county leaders would have to put together some plans for the rail. That would include deciding who would run the train — either TxDOT, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA) or another entity — and how they would pay for it, either locally, through ticket sales, or split across the counties between Travis and Bexar County.

Once that is done, Brown is hopeful they can bring a plan to the federal government to get some funding for the project.

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