Trump officials cut planning grant for Texas high-speed rail between Dallas and Houston

[marmar]

DALLAS — President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday terminated a federal grant to help fund a long-sought high-speed rail line between Dallas and Houston — saying that if the embattled project moves forward, it will have to do so without federal help at this stage.

The U.S. Department of Transportation nixed a $63.9 million planning grant for the proposed Texas Central route under an agreement between the Federal Railroad Administration and Amtrak. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the two agencies “are in agreement that underwriting this project is a waste of taxpayer funds and a distraction from Amtrak’s core mission of improving its existing subpar services.”

“The Texas Central Railway project was proposed as a private venture,” Duffy said. “If the private sector believes this project is feasible, they should carry the pre-construction work forward, rather than relying on Amtrak and the American taxpayer to bail them out.”

Kleinheinz Capital Partners, the lead investor in Texas Central, said Monday’s announcement is “good news for the overall project.” ................(more)

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/14/texas-high-speed-rail-planning-grant-cut/

[no_hypocrisy]

1. They would do that to Gregg Abbott?

[GreenWave]

2. Why that would cause a minor pinch to the oil moguls.

[Vogon_Glory]

3. No real surprise. Hostility to public transit, particularly intra-city and

intercity rail transport, is Republican/Conservative dogma. I doubt that Dallas/Houston or Dallas/San Antonio high-speed rail or even adequate conventional passenger rail will ever be put in place without a massive sea-change in voter and political thinking. I don’t see that happening in Texas or other Republican-controlled states for the next decade.

The folly of this knee-jerk hostility to public transit is likely to surface should the Trumpers or other reactionaries takes a meat-axle to essential air service subsidies, something I see coming down the road real soon.