The Texas Supreme Court has potentially cleared the way for a high-speed rail line, a major legal victory for project advocates that has seemingly ended a five-year battle between them and property owners determined to preserve land rights.
The Supreme Court declined Friday to hear the case against private development company Texas Central, which had been working its way through the Texas court system since 2019 when a district court in Leon County initially ruled the company was not a railroad, and therefore could not use eminent domain to seize the property it needed to build the route.
Texas Central wants to create 90-minute high-speed rail service between Houston and Dallas, with one stop near College Station. It would stretch over 240 miles and replicate the Japanese Tokaido Shinkansen bullet train system, which has electric trains that are projected to emit less carbon per mile than a commercial jet.
“The Court’s denial of review should put an end to over five years of contentious litigation and clear the path for Texas Central to bring the high-speed train to Texas,” the company said in a statement. It did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Jim and Barbara Miles, two Central Texas landowners, took Texas Central to court when they learned their property would be seized in the project. When the state’s 13th Court of Appeals reversed the Leon County district court’s ruling last year, finding that Texas Central is a railroad company and does have eminent domain authority, the landowners said they would appeal to the Texas Supreme Court.
“We are disappointed the Court of Appeals treated these fundamental private property rights, cherished by all Texans, with such disregard,” said Kyle Workman, the president of the anti-rail advocacy group Texans Against High Speed Rail. “Jim and Barbara Miles are still in this fight, and we are standing with them, as should all Texans who value private property rights.”
Construction will take five to six years and cost $20 billion, the company has said. Earlier this month, Texas Central signed a $16 billion contract with Milan, Italy-based construction company Webuild.
But the project still faces hurdles, say U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady and others.
“This means nothing,” the Houston Republican said Friday in a prepared statement. “This project is no more ‘shovel ready’ than it was years ago when Texas Central Railroad announced construction would begin soon — and failed — nor does TCR have a single permit to begin construction. In fact, they have not even filed an application with the federal Surface Transportation Board — the first step in an arduous and lengthy permitting process that could take years.”
Plans for the high-speed rail have faced opposition for years, with opponents arguing that the private company would abuse eminent domain to develop the route. In September, the Federal Railroad Administration finalized two key regulatory processes for the project: one establishing safety requirements and another completing an environmental review process.
Patrick McShan, a Dallas attorney with The Beckham Group, told The Dallas Morning News last year that he believed Texas Central would face legal battles and that the project could end up before the Texas Supreme Court.
Texas Central said the Dallas station is expected to be located in the Cedars, south of downtown, and connect to Dallas Area Rapid Transit rail lines. The company said the station is intended to accelerate growth in the neighborhood and encourage retail and residential development.
According to its public plans, the railway will minimize disruptions to landowners by following “existing utility corridors and public rights-of-way as much as possible.” It says it plans to use eminent domain “only as a last resort.”
Texas Central estimates that construction would create 17,000 jobs with a total economic impact of $36 billion.
Last year, several Republican state lawmakers wrote to then-U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and asked her to end the project after Texas Central laid off 28 employees during the coronavirus outbreak.
“It has become clear Texas Central Railroad simply does not have the financial resources required or expertise employed to continue with this project,” the letter said. “To proceed otherwise would be an inexcusable waste of taxpayer dollars and jeopardizes the integrity of the rules-making process at the Federal Railroad Administration.”
Meanwhile, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, a Democrat who represents northern and eastern Dallas County, have applauded the project’s mission.
“When you’re going to connect the 4th- and 5th-largest metropolitan areas in the country, that says a lot about the growth in Texas,” said Peter LeCody, the president of Texas Rail Advocates. “We can’t just keep building highways all the time, we have to look at some other solutions.”
Gov. Greg Abbott has been less willing to take a stance on the project. In October, Abbott wrote a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga expressing his full support for the line, but then quickly reconsidered when he learned more about how the construction would impact Texas land owners.
“From the beginning of this project, the Governor made clear that he could support this project if, and only if, the private property rights of Texans are fully respected,” former spokesman John Wittman said in a statement to The Dallas Morning News.
