Dallas to Fort Worth high-speed rail gets tentative thumbs up

DALLAS – The Dallas Morning News reports a top North Texas transportation official said he supports a regional high-speed rail line that doesn’t run through downtown Dallas — as long as it keeps the project on track. Moving forward with a new alignment for an estimated $6 billion Dallas to Fort Worth bullet train that loops to the west of downtown could add an extra year to the project’s environmental review phase, said Michael Morris, transportation director of the North Central Texas Council of Governments. But he said it would be worth it if it gets federal approval and complies with a recent Dallas City Council resolution opposing the seven-story high downtown throughline. Council members are concerned a track cutting across downtown would disrupt plans for a new $3 billion convention center and other multi-billion-dollar redevelopment projects near Reunion Tower.

“It is better to get into a potential delay and not have a fatal flaw than to pursue a more expedient path and potentially have a fatal flaw in a Dallas resolution that doesn’t change,” Morris told the Regional Transportation Council on Thursday. The environmental review for the rail project planned to stop in Dallas, Arlington and Fort Worth began last year and could be complete by February. Funding for the project is still under discussion, and the $6 billion estimate could change after the review. The transportation council, a 45-member group of North Texas elected and appointed officials that oversees regional transit policies and planning, could vote as soon as August on whether to greenlight the new route. But several hurdles need to be cleared first. Morris said the newest proposal must receive initial approval from the Texas Department of Transportation, the city of Dallas, Amtrak, the Federal Transit Administration, the Federal Railroad Administration and other involved entities. Five Dallas City Council members who serve on the transportation council said Thursday they wanted to wait until a study examining the project’s economic impact is completed before the city reconsiders its stance.