TX: Dallas City Council can get it right on high-speed rail again

The decades-old idea of connecting Texas’ biggest cities with high-speed rail is fundamentally a good one. But any rail project that’s going to cut through Dallas needs to make sense for our city’s particular needs.

The Dallas City Council is set to consider a resolution on Wednesday supporting regional transportation planners’ efforts to advance a potential high-speed rail project through a federal initiative meant to help improve intercity passenger rail. The project in question would include a segment running from Houston to Dallas and then another segment running from Dallas to Fort Worth.

Council members should approve this resolution because it includes smart caveats.

For one, the proposed resolution stipulates that planners must evaluate upgrades to the Trinity Railway Express, an existing commuter rail line that connects Dallas and Forth Worth. Another condition is that any aboveground rail not run through city park land.

The resolution would also reaffirm that, other than a streetcar expansion, Dallas isn’t interested in aboveground rail projects that cut through “the Central Business District, Uptown and Victory Park areas.” The Dallas City Council took that position in June 2024.

This last condition is especially important for Dallas’ urban core, and doubly so for downtown. The area is at a crossroads, and any major infrastructure project in it needs to be carefully considered and integrated into a broader plan.

We would add an even bigger caveat to any planning: It’s important that the region not move forward with a Dallas-to- Fort Worth segment until the Dallas-to- Houston segment is a sure thing. The North Central Texas Council of Governments is leading the Dallas-to- Fort Worth project while Texas Central Partners is leading the Dallas-to- Houston line, an NCTCOG spokesperson said.

In 1987, the Legislature passed a bill directing the now-defunct Texas Turnpike Authority to examine the financial and economic feasibility of constructing high-speed rail “among and between the cities of Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio.”

A 1989 report states high-speed rail in the Texas Triangle “is a feasible and attractive option.” But in the years since, the mind-boggling cost and complexity of the endeavor, as well as a conservative tilt against rail, has left high-speed rail in a perpetual state of limbo.

For the time being, that doesn’t seem to have changed much. There are still so many unknowns, and the future of high-speed rail in Texas seems just about as uncertain as it’s ever been.

The details matter. Dallas can’t accept any rail project that would introduce physical barriers into areas we have worked long and hard to reconnect. That’s especially true in downtown, which is at a precarious point in its history.

Over time, Dallas’ leadership has demonstrated good judgment with high-speed rail projects. A cautious approach is the right one.

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