DALLAS — Montgomery County, Texas, has created a special regional planning commission as part of an effort to block the route of a proposed $10 billion high-speed rail line that would run from Dallas through the affluent area north of Houston.
A rail route accommodating 62 proposed bullet train trips every day between the cities would divide farms that have been in the same family since the days of the Republic of Texas and cripple development expected to bring in thousands of new residents, county officials said.
"We are committed to opposing any routing of high-speed rail through western Montgomery County, and the regional planning commission is a tool that will help us in that goal," said Judge Craig Doyal, the county's top elected official and chief administrator.
An inter-local agreement between Montgomery County and the town of Magnolia calls for the commission to coordinate with state and local officials on the rail project. The commission automatically terminates whenever work is completed on a route outside the county or if the project is cancelled.
Texas Central Railway, which plans to build and operate the 240-mile line without any public funding or grants, said earlier this year that it prefers a westerly route along a high-voltage electric power transmission corridor through Grimes County that would avoid Montgomery County entirely. Texas Central said building the high-speed line in the utility corridor would "reduce the project's impact on communities and landowners."
Texas Central's second-best option is inside a railroad right of way belonging to freight-hauler BNSF Railway that cuts across a portion of western Montgomery County, Doyal said.
"We've asked specifically if it's dead completely in Montgomery County and have not gotten a completely affirmative answer," Doyal said. "There's always that concern that those thoughts have changed, and they could shift back."
Montgomery County wanted the high-speed rail line along the Interstate 45 corridor with a stop in the county. Without a nearby station, Doyal said, the bullet train project provides a lot of headaches with few benefits to the county.
"Where you've got cattle on one side and a barn or a lake on the other side, you could potentially create a real issue in trying to operate a working ranch in some areas," he said.
The Texas line would use bullet train technology developed by Central Japan Railway Co. The trains would reach a top speed of 220 miles per hour and cut the travel time between Houston and Dallas to 90 minutes instead of four hours by car.
Rep. Will Metcalf, a Republican who represents Montgomery County in the Texas House, said the high-speed trains would bring much disruption to the county.
"They are going be going through ranchland and farmland that's been there for decades and generations," he said. "There isn't going to be any stop in my district. They're just going to blow right past and that's not sitting well with me."
State Sen. Charles Schwertner said he was skeptical of the sponsor's contention that the project will not require any public funding.
"This project is being sold to the people of Texas that it will never need state backing or subsidization or bailing out, and unfortunately, I think that's a complete fallacy," Schwertner said.
