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Texas High Speed Rail confirmed the Northwest Mall site remains their intended Houston terminal location. (KPRC 2026)<\/p>\nHOUSTON \u2013 For nearly two decades, Texans have been promised a 90-minute bullet train connecting Houston and Dallas \u2014 no traffic, no security lines, just two of the state\u2019s biggest cities linked by a single straight shot. But after years of announcements, lawsuits and billions of dollars in projected costs, there is still no track, no train and no clear timeline.<\/p>\n
KPRC 2 investigative reporter Joel Eisenbaum traveled parts of the proposed route, pushed for answers and found a project caught between competing visions \u2014 and a growing list of unanswered questions about who will fund it, who will build it and whether it will ever happen.<\/p>\n
WATCH THE FULL EPISODE OF ENOUGH THIS SUNDAY AT 10:30 P.M.<\/p>\n
From promise to stalled: A project two decades in the making<\/p>\n
The idea of a high-speed rail line between Houston and Dallas was first proposed in 2009, when a private company pitched a Japanese-style bullet train connecting the two cities in roughly 90 minutes. At the time, the concept was seen as revolutionary \u2014 a way to travel between Texas\u2019 two largest cities without sitting in traffic on I-45 or waiting in TSA lines.<\/p>\n
For years, the project moved slowly. Then, in 2022, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that Texas Central qualified as a railroad company with the ability to use eminent domain \u2014 a significant legal victory for supporters. In 2023, Amtrak joined the project, and the federal government awarded nearly $64 million to help advance planning.<\/p>\n
For the first time in years, it looked like momentum had finally arrived.<\/p>\n
Then came 2025.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration revoked the nearly $64 million federal grant. Amtrak \u2014 whose board is appointed by the president \u2014 walked away. And the central question shifted from whether the train made sense to something more fundamental: Who was going to pay for it?<\/p>\n
\u2018Who\u2019s left to pay for it?\u2019<\/p>\n
Ed Emmett, a transportation policy fellow at Rice University\u2019s Baker Institute who has followed the project for years, put the funding reality plainly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no federal dollars involved in it anymore,\u201d Emmett said. \u201cSo you have one investment group \u2014 I believe based out of Fort Worth up in North Texas. And that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Losing the federal grant meant more than just losing $64 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was losing a signal that the federal government was willing to stand behind the project,\u201d Emmett said. \u201cAnd then Amtrak walked away. And all of a sudden the big question wasn\u2019t whether the train made sense \u2014 it was who was going to pay for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The project, now operating under the name Texas High Speed Rail, could cost as much as $50 billion, a figure cited by Waller County Judge, Trey Duhon. <\/p>\n
Without state or federal funding, its future rests largely on private investors \u2014 and government approvals that are not yet in place.<\/p>\n
Looking for headquarters \u2014 and finding more questions<\/p>\n
In an effort to understand who is running the project and where, Eisenbaum visited what was listed as the company\u2019s headquarters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis could be headquarters for Texas Central,\u201d Eisenbaum said during a recorded standup. \u201cWe have yet to find anything that resembles an actual headquarters. In all of our travels across the state, we haven\u2019t found anything that constitutes what you would think would be the headquarters for an operation this significant.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the visit, a spokesperson directed Eisenbaum to a different address. When that address was searched online, it did not return Texas High Speed Rail \u2014 it returned a private investment firm.<\/p>\n
A divided outlook: \u2018Basically over\u2019 vs. \u2018just wait\u2019<\/p>\n
Not everyone watching the project sees it the same way.<\/p>\n
Waller County Judge Trey Duhon, who has opposed the project for years, and is President of group called \u201cTexans Against High Speed Rail\u201d, is skeptical of recent developments \u2014 including the demolition of Northwest Mall in Houston, which the company has long said will become the future Houston terminal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they\u2019re trying to keep this spin going that this is the first step in a high-speed rail project,\u201d Duhon said.<\/p>\n
Texas High Speed Rail confirmed the Northwest Mall site remains their intended Houston terminal location. (KPRC 2026)<\/p>\n
Texas High Speed Rail confirmed the mall site remains their intended Houston terminal location. But Eisenbaum noted the company\u2019s announcement never said construction on the Houston terminal was starting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat they said is that the demolition would allow the project to move forward,\u201d he said. \u201cPhrases like \u2018as soon as we get the green light\u2019 and \u2018once approved\u2019 \u2014 those are important conditional phrases. Because even they are acknowledging this project still has major hurdles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, sees things differently. Morris has helped plan major transportation projects across the Dallas-Fort Worth region and has been closely involved in discussions about the rail line.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you\u2019ll know if high-speed rail will ever be built in this corridor in the next 18 months,\u201d Morris said.<\/p>\n
When Eisenbaum pressed Morris on whether the Trump administration \u2014 which had already pulled its support \u2014 could change course, Morris remained measured.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people I\u2019m talking to are waiting for the appropriate time to see if there\u2019s not an opportunity with this administration,\u201d Morris said. \u201cThat\u2019s all I can tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n
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During the pandemic era, Texas Central purchased 41 homes in the White Oak Falls neighborhood in Cypress to clear the path for the proposed rail line. (KPRC 2026)Real impacts on real communities<\/p>\n
While the debate over funding and timelines continues, some communities have already been changed by a train that has never been built.<\/p>\n
During the pandemic era, Texas Central purchased 41 homes in the White Oak Falls neighborhood in Cypress to clear the path for the proposed rail line. The train never came. The homes sat empty \u2014 and the neighborhood changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll these homes were a haven to squatters, haven to drug addicts, people falling to prostitution,\u201d the neighbor said. \u201cThere were people being raped in these homes,\u201d a resident, later determined by police to be living in a White Oak Falls home illegally, said.<\/p>\n
When Eisenbaum first reported on the area, he found broken windows and neighbors describing rising crime. On a return visit this year, much of that had changed \u2014 the company\u2019s contractor had repaired many of the homes and rented them out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe neighborhood looks different today,\u201d Eisenbaum said. \u201cBut the reason we came back hasn\u2019t changed. The train that these homes were bought out for still hasn\u2019t been built.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, we\u2019re just taking a look \u2014 we\u2019re wondering what\u2019s ever gonna become of this railroad project. What they\u2019re doing with these houses, you know, all that stuff,\u201d another resident said.<\/p>\n
The same frustration extends to Waller County, where families who have owned land for generations still do not know what the future holds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve had squatters and people have ripped things off \u2014 all the way from air conditioners to pressure tanks,\u201d a Waller County resident said. \u201cThey don\u2019t take care of the property. It\u2019s an eyesore for the people that live out here. They just don\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n
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SeveWaller County Judge Trey Duhon, who has opposed the project for years, and is President of group called \u201cTexans Against High Speed Rail\u201d, is skeptical of recent developments \u2014 including the demolition of Northwest Mall in Houston, which the company has long said will become the future Houston terminal. (KPRC 2026)Where things stand<\/p>\n
Eisenbaum said the reporting revealed two completely different conversations happening at the same time.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne is about the future of transportation,\u201d he said. \u201cThe other is about the people who have been living with this project for years \u2014 without knowing whether it\u2019s ever going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The short answer on whether the train is coming anytime soon?<\/p>\n
\u201cNot immediately,\u201d Eisenbaum said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s in line with the historical speed of this 20-plus year old project. It\u2019s slow going. Money\u2019s a problem. Public perception is a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Supporters of the project believe the politics could change. The funding could change. But until questions about who will fund it and who will build it are answered, skepticism is likely to remain.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 For nearly two decades, Texans have been promised a 90-minute bullet train connecting Houston and Dallas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[94707,152729,56,58,57,840],"class_list":["post-441155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-enough","tag-high-speed-train","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-transportation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}